You CAN do it! (As you can see from all the posts, there are quite a few individuals who's been in your position and gotten through it.)

The writing advice given here is great. But you need to get your mindset in the right space.

Take reading with you everywhere you go. When waiting or eating or riding the bus, read a paper you need to read. And read the abstract, intro and conclusion sections.

Also, designate at least three hours a day to actively only work on your dissertation. Treat it like an appointment you can't miss. I'll be writing more on this at
Good luck!

My apologies - it's not meant as an advertisement. As you know, it's hell doing a PhD the normal way, but moving out of academia to do a PhD is even worse. This post is meant as a means to find other individuals with similar experiences and to eventually share this with the PhD community as a whole.

I've just completed your survey - I found your questions useful in answering some of my own unspoken thoughts.

It's interesting that you are now struggling with the questions I was struggling with two years ago: should I stay in academia, despite having difficulties finding a decent academic job, or should I enter the corporate sector. I chose the latter for financial reasons.

I'm currently writing an ebook on my experiences as a PhD candidate working full-time in the 'real world'. You can check it out at www.survivingyourphd.strikingly.com .

Good look with the decision-making process!

It depends where you find yourself in life when you start your PhD. Personally, I think doing your PhD as a full-time student/part-time employee is the least stressful option, usually because you don't have things like rent, cars, credit cards, etc. to pay (the usual stuff that comes with fully 'adult' life). I started out as such, but needed to take on full-time employment during my final year, which was pure hell.

However, the latter is doable - I just graduated and am writing an ebook on the experience to support other PhD candidates in the same position. Check it out at www.survivingyourphd.strikingly.com .

Hi Chococake,

The ideal submission length is a 1 000 words. You will be acknowledged as the contributor, though your contribution will undergo language editing with the rest of the book. Please note that contributors don't receive any financial compensations for their contributions.

In your contribution you can write about, but are not 100% restricted to, the following topics:
- your experience of 'PhD-ing' while working full-time outside of academia
- the main challenges you experienced while in this situation
- steps you took to overcome these difficulties
- tips you can give to other PhD candidates in a similar situation to make 'PhD-ing' easier.

In your email, please state the country you are currently living in, as well as your name (it could be a pen name).

Feel free to drop me an email (available on my website http://survivingyourphd.strikingly.com/) if you have more questions, or expand on this post.

I recently obtained my PhD and am currently writing an ebook on surviving your PhD while working full-time in the real world.

In this ebook, I hope to encourage other PhD candidates who work full-time outside of academia not to give up on their dreams to obtain their PhD, despite doing the eight-to-five grind.

If you'd like to share your experience of doing your PhD while working outside of academia, send me your story and your experiences could be included in the ebook (properly referenced under your name, of course!).

Contact me through my official web page: http://survivingyourphd.strikingly.com/