Hi,
I have been offered two PhD's one in Computer Science (doing psychology of computing) and the other doing Health (Excercise Physiology). I am interested in both of them but I am not sure how to choose between them.

(I am also waiting to hear back about a PhD measuring the competence of health professionals and the difference between their own perception of their competence. I would also evaluate their training in terms helping them to obtain competence).

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For the computer science PhD I will need to build an item of computer software and see how useful it is in teaching people things. I can't programme - yet! So I will have to teach myself and that is a bit of a gamble as to whether I will succeed from an ability point of view and a motivation pint of view. I haven't done it before I don't know how easy it will be. Also and there may always be 16 year olds who know 5 languages and can programme better than me. Therefore it may be difficult for me to be the top of my field? However there is alot of gov funding for research into computer science, which could be handy when I finish. However it may be difficult for me to get a job in industry without a first degree in computer science and not being an expert programmer? Maybe it will lead to a well paid job in industry, as computer science is generally well paid?

(continued)

The computer science degree is more broad as for a career I could study anything under the sun as long as it was related to computers.

As for the Health (exercise physiology - the influence of exercise on health) PhD I am not sure what career it would lead to. I am intested in disease (epidemiology) and health, especially mental health. Not so interested in sports science, coaching, studying elite athletes etc. I have no science background (would this influence by job prospects aftewars if I was competing against GPs and biochemists to do epidemiology research?). I was thinking of taking it in order to go and do medicine afterwards. I think I might like to do medical research (as I know I wouldn't want to be a GP and work with patients). Would this PhD be helpful in getting into medicine or would a medical course not accept me because they don't see it as traditional life science? Is there much demand for epidemiologists?

What could the third PhD lead to? Occupational psychology and job profiling?

I know this sounds materialistic, but I have been really poor most of my life and I have been in insecure jobs. I have spent most of my life struggling to pay the rent and living on the poverty line. I know I should really focus on what most interests me, but I just can't stop wondering if any of these things will lead to a well paid job and fulfilling secure career?

Can anyone tell me what people normally do after a PhD? Can anyone advise on what they think is the best option? (If you need any more details let me know).

Hattie

If you go into academia, then you will need to be prepared for job insecurity and relatively poor wages. Perhaps concentrate on careers in industry instead.

I am only starting my PhD in September but have been preparing myself for it for 18 months. I couldn't imagine going into a PhD without a passion. If it excites you, drives you and pulls you then that is the direction. I come from a poor background but I could never let money drive me, personally. I think you need to think about what your heart says as well as what you would like your bank balance to say, just my 2p worth
PS
I have a BA Sports Science degree and I am doing a PhD in Neural Ageing and Exercise and I am definitely glad of my MSc and BSc background as well, not sure if I would cope without them.

i take it the financial aspects are not the only thing you are considering, but that the interest in your possible topics is given and you just want some career prospects to help you decide.

i believe there is no way of getting into medicine short of doing a medicine degree. your PhD in epidemiology would not help for that, i think. but it might lead to medicine-related sorts of jobs. depending on where you are, these sort of jobs are better or worse paid.

same for the last one - medicine related jobs possible.
overall, i think it is more your first degree that matters for your career outside of university. i don't think the PhD is the best way to re-educate for a different job. if you want to get into computers, study computers, but not as a PhD. hope you understand what i'm saying.

Hi Hattie, gosh, what a great position to be in - having lots of great options! However, I would try and work out what you'd either really enjoy doing, or what career you'd like to do before embarking on a PhD. I find a PhD incredibly difficult, emotionally and financially draining - you need to study something that is either a passion (as PinkNeuron suggested) or something that you know is going to get you into a career you'd like. However, they do sound like great PhD's and you wouldn't have been offered them if they didn't think you had the right set of skills to start with. Being a biologist, I would have thought it would be difficult to do a physiology PhD without a science background, and programming comes naturally to me but then I have a mathematical background - if you're quite mathematical then I think you'll find programming is not too difficult. But with either it sounds like there could be a very steep learning curve that you'll need to prepare yourself for.

What is your first degree in?

...Generally a PhD will not get you a well paid stable job - though there are exceptions (computer science is probably one of them, but you don't need a PhD to work in computer science). Good luck And if you do decide to take one of them, you'll get lots of great motivation from everyone on this forum.
p.s. personally, I found that I couldn't work in a job where I had a good stable salary but didn't enjoy the work - so I left and came back to do a PhD and love it (though I am now very poor). If you can find something you love and get a good salary for - well you'll be in heaven (they do exist - my sister loves being a doctor, and is a very generous rich sister!). Otherwise there is a compromise - choose something that you're reasonably happy with (though perhaps not passionate about) but have a good salary & stable job (most of my friends fit in this category). It usually ends up being a compromise. I now find I dream of what I'd do with evenings & weekends off...

My Phd is in computer science, I've seen alot of really good researchers get bogged down in writing their implementations (programming) before they can start running test and getting results and many of them had degrees in a comptuer related subject or at least some knowlage of programming. I think you may find that learning to program is relatively easy, learning to design large programs which can be easily maintained requires a degree of experiance.

Tiggs