Hi. I need a bit of advice. I'm now currently doing phd student in Computer Science and I am facing troubles with my supervisor.

I am now finishing my 1st year of phd, however, I couldn't get any good results. The biggest problem is that the relationship with my supervisor is not good. I had meetings with him in several times, however, it has never worked well. When I present the progress, he only gave comments that the project direction is different from what we discussed last time or he can't understand (he said the progress was good only when I present research idea without any implementation). I know that I might be not good as a phd student, however, for me, his comments were too general and does not contain tips to implement or research direction from my perspective. After every meeting, I lost confidence and I didn't know what I should do next. Even if I invest much time including weekend time for the project, the progress made him angry and irritating.

Now he moved to another university this year and he is now supervising me unofficially. I didn't have a meeting for the last few months because I felt a large depression and I couldn't make much progress. Covid-19 makes my situation worse because I usually do experiment employed many users, and now it's hard to perform. This is why I feel the necessity to have a meeting with the supervisor, however, I can't expect any good results from past experience. I have no one to discuss this. I have only few colleagues and I usually work alone. I think a lot about quitting and finding a new job, but still I am looking for a way to turn around the current situation.

Could anyone give me tips or advice about how I can cope with the current situation?

Thanks.

I am sorry to hear your experience. I had a bit similar one in my "uncompleted PhD". I think what you can do is ask him directly what does he expect? what is the "planned" research direction? Does he feel you are doing something different from intended by funding proposal? what exactly bothers him? Is it misunderstanding or he doubt your capabilities?
Otherwise if you do not get a concrete answer and if you do not find any progress in the next few months, quit as soon as you can. Really there is no benefit from working with someone who does not believe in your ability (if this is the case). Run fast and run far.

Hello,
That does sound really tough. Do you have a secondary supervisor or an academic advisor / tutor you could speak with about things?

thank you very much for your advice. It might be nice to ask him directly. Honestly, I'm really afraid of that though. At least I feel that he doesn't believe in me. When I don't agree with his comment, he probably thinks that I can't understand his comments because of my English skills (this is really ridiculous). After presenting the first paper in a conference last year, he blamed me for the paper because he was really frustrated about the result. And then he has also told me that he will move to another university (actually, he had already applied for another professor position when I started to work, I guess). He also told me that "forget about project matters, and just do your PhD research" because there is not anyone (except me) who works on the project in the university. I'm now thinking that I work for next few months, and if I can't get any good results, I just leave the university and find a new job.

Thank you very much for your comment.

No, I don't have. There is any post-doc research for the project too. Theoretically, the current supervisor is my secondary supervisor because he can't supervise me as the primary for my PhD (under the current PhD program, I need to find the primary supervisor in another university).

My Advice;
Take a break - burnout is real and can significantly affect your long term productivity. Overworking is a false economy

Re-find your passion - Before your supervisor, there was a reason you started the PhD. Focus on why you want to do your research and ignore your supervisor. Self guidance can be difficult but if you focus on your work you will consistently improve. Commit to a small piece of work and fully finish. If you compare it to some published materials, you will be surprised how good it is compared with other people. The fear of being wrong is worse than being wrong.

Find a new supervisor - Your supervisor leaving is a god sent, you should be able to request a new supervisor from your supervisor. Talk a with a few lecturers beforehand about your work and ask the friendliest one if they will be your supervisor. If you have issues, you can refer to your student guidebook

PS: I wish the forum's formatting allowed bullet points

Thank you very much for your kind advice. As you mentioned, I feel that I need time to think. And probably I need to find a supervisor at conferences because I think there are not anyone who submit the paper to same conference as me at the current university. Participating in another phd program might be an option for me.

I totally agree with that "the fear of being wrong is worse than being wrong". I couldn't behave so at least for last half year though. When I worked at the office, I felt rapid and pounding heart rate from the some point after the supervisor blamed me. Literally I screamed in the office for many times. Nowadays I feel better because I work at home because of Covid-19. It happen again when I think about my phd somethime though. First I might need to fix this mental issues.

Anyway again, I appreciate for your advice.