The thing about no longer being immersed in the PhD process is that I have found it very difficult to contribute to this forum. If anything, every time I post on this forum, I sort of feel like I am haunting it, like some tragi-comic version of Lady Macbeth, unable to relinquish a tragic act (my PhD) that I was a central part of: 'What, will these hands ne'er be clean?'
So, how to be productive? Well, I'm not quite ready to slip away into the ether. As Rocky Balboa said in Rocky 5: 'I've still got sum stuff in the basement'. Literally, this famous caption translates as, 'I have loads of books and papers in my basement that I can't bring myself to chuck away'. Metaphorically, it means that I hopefully have a few useful insights and experiences that may be useful to those of you considering working in the private sector on completion of your PhDs. In fact, you can learn from all of my mistakes thus far. Like chicks in a nest learning to fly, I'm effectively the first one to jump out and crash land. By dissecting my mistakes, you may end up getting off to a flying start! Over the coming days and weeks, I'll be updating this thread with all of my experiences.
Meh! Have to seriously consider getting some 'zzz's' now, as I'm 'touching base' with my 'line manager' tomorrow regarding my 'TC's' and and an 'IB App' (see, all this new lingo!), but I'll be back.

Hey Wal, sounds good! I too have been wondering about the best way to continue to contribute to the forum after completion of the PhD so I look forward to hearing about your experiences! Best, KB

Yea, all you post PhD people, please don't go. I really value your insights; afterall you have 'been there, done that' and successfully to boot!

Here's hoping that the completion of a PhD does not equate to redundancy with regard to experiential wisdom and knowledge sharing...
I am just starting my part-time one (officially on day 2 to be precise) and there are many years ahead, but I'd hate to think that the end of this process for everyone is simply a 'tick, been there done that' sort of thing-'now get the heck off this forum!'-unless of course you want to.

I like the idea of framing my PhD process as being as sort of tragi-comedy or possibly a comedy of errors though with an 'All's well that end's well" finish...Macbeth seems pretty grim.

Wal when you said that you crash landed, metaphor aside, are you just making a reference to coming to a 'screaming halt' after the last months of craziness or did you have an awful viva experience?

Its great to see you around Wal, a friendly bearded face is what we need :-)

Are you going to be trying to publish your PhD work? (if not already) or is it non-academia from here on in?

Ha, can't believe I missed this earlier! I must admit I do sometimes feel a bit of a fraud posting on here, but sometimes I do have the odd nugget of wisdom - like you I work in private sector and have done for a few years now so I can comment on what it's like with a little bit of knowledge (just what is an IB app? Not heard that one yet!). And it's weird as I've come full circle through this forum from when I was doing my masters and looking for a PhD, all the way through doing it, and now out the other side... I'm older, wiser in some ways, but also a hell of a lot greyer. And let's not mention how much heavier...

... although people still get my age wrong if they guess (in a good way:-x)

Hey there,

Nice post. Exactly what I have also been wondering lately as I traverse from thread to thread at times . . . :p

Cheers

I look forward to hearing it! The same goes to all the other Doctors out there. Share your wisdom with the eager masses. (gift)

Hey Wally, good to see you around again. We could do with some of your been there, done that wisdom - so don't go!

I can't see myself ever getting a job in 'industry', at least not the kind you are doing, but it is still good to have you around again.

I've also been wondering about leaving the forum. Then again as soon as I get my viva date I will be on here finding as many viva posts as I can!
It's also been interesting seening people have the same problems finding jobs as I have been.

Then again as I didn't post here that much during my PhD I'll probably poke my head in when I can and post on threads I think I cna help (usually basic SPSS or stats questions!).

Right, sorry for the delay. I've been really busy over this past week, not with wild women or parties though - just work and trying to commute to and from it in a horrible, little car. Let's see what I can impart first wrt working in industry...

Lesson of Sorts 1: You might have innovative approaches to research, but your place of work has its own way.


Yep, tonight I'll cover the first thing that I learnt the hard way. You might have spent 3 or 4 intensive years learning all about a specific area of research, really know it - but don't think that you'll be fully able to institute it when working in industry. I'm worried about how transferable to other PhDs what I am about to say is, so I'll try and keep it as generic as possible...
When I first started at my place of work, I wanted to apply everything I knew about qualitative research, mixed methods and philosophy to the job. I was horrified to learn that the qual research they do was not subjected to the same rigorous standards that you read about in the academic literature. This applies to all the research my workplace do. So I made a lot of recommendations and 'constructive' criticisms (I know, wxxker alert!). However, this is what you'd expect in a academic context. Essentially, everything I do does not share the supposed academic rigour of what you would expect within academia. There's nothing essentially wrong with this because industry is out to make money, but it's something you may have to get used to. All those lofty ideals you may have could possibly have to take a back seat. I realise that I may have made myself seem really bad here, but when it's an area of research you specifically have your PhD in, you are rather passionate about it and it can be hard to make what you perceive to be compromises.
So, yes, it was quite a big slap in the face for me, and I did find myself in a few meetings with the associate director of the business I work for. I did argue that a lot of what we do is not very rigorous, but she did impress that I'm working for a business that is out to make money - that is how we stay employed. She is correct and I've had to get used to this. Therefore, I suppose the moral of this first post is that, if you work for industry, be prepared to 'shift' your expectations. You may have stringent academic standards, but in industry you are working in an applied, money making context. So what Sage (1907) said about the Ideal of Absolute Perfection will possibly not hold water in your work place.

Perhaps this is a naive first post on this thread, but it is the honest initial problem I came across in beginning to work for a consultancy. Maybe it will have relevancy to those of you who go on to begin work in industry? Essentially, just be prepared to adjust you expectations and academic standards. Perhaps, someone else may be able to add to this post?


Next time: Making friends in the workplace after researching all by yourself for around 3 years: sharing, conflict and being nice.

Hey Wally, thanks for the update. What happened to you plns to publish and go back to academia, how's that all going?

The academic job in oz is not looking too good, tbh. The interview was several weeks ago and I've heard nothing back - disappointing. :-( Will aim to update this thread with more work place insights by Wed.