Mattfab - Thank you for your input regarding your own career. It's encouraging.

Trust me when I say I don't believe my low level of supervision is normal. I'm fully aware of it. But I came to the conclusion after my first year that there was little I could do about it without potentially sabotaging myself. Trying to switch supervisor is fraught with peril and horror stories, and you never know who your supervisor knows.

The flip side of the coin though, is that it has helped me to become an independent researcher much quicker. No spoon feeding, everything research-related I've found I've got on my own. I've separately built up a support network of a few other academics (not students) who are willing to give me the odd proof read and discuss ideas with me, etc etc. I've gotten so good at spotting valuable books cheap on ebay I'm wondering if I should branch out into buying up excess and shifting it at auction. And so on. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

I'm not at any risk of dropping out, I intend to see this through. I know a lot of people have mental health problems during a PhD which can impact their progress; but when you've had them most of your life, you've usually learnt how to accommodate it by this stage. When to take rest days, when to get drunk with your friends, when to take a week off, when to vent somewhere/to someone (which is somewhat therapeutic), etc. Bit of a 'Hello darkness my old friend' approach. You know the ways to make it all copable. My crunch time was back in undergrad, so I've got all that out of the way already!

No, for me, the question is whether or not to pursue the job when I've got that PhD firmly in my hand.

Tudor Queen & pm - I've chatted over with a few people in my discipline. The ones who made it generally seem to enjoy it, and , the academic job does still appear to be a steady job where you get to investigate what interests you. Which is what I want. But I've heard tales of the sector changing over the last decade, along with talks of some institutions being different, and so forth. HE has changed a lot of late, and it's becoming difficult to gauge whether a) the job is still what I think it is, and b) if it will stay that way.

The other side is the stories from people I know who are even now struggling to get a foot in the door. In some ways, I'm actually ahead of the game and better off there. Once my PhD is in hand; I'll have all the means I need to carry on working, even if I'm not amazingly well off. Most people who got a grant usually struggle to make the transition and pay their way independently/balance research with another workload. I'm already sorted in that regard. Question is more: do I want to? If you get my drift. That's why I'm asking those of you here with some experience. More empirical data/stories, etc. It'll help me to make the decision when the time comes.

Tudor_queen, I'm applying to try and do a little bit of teaching in the academic year ahead, so I'll see how that goes down. And thanks! I'm honestly a bit surprised someone recognised it that quickly!

pm, I'm in humanities, so there's not so much in the way of grant applications or managing teams of postdocs. More time buried in books and data. Which is part of the problem really; it's much harder to get ensconced in a department when you're not in STEM. Less positions all around. It means I'll probably have to carry on like I am for another six or so years after getting my PhD doing a bit of teaching on the side whilst I publish a few books and a dozen odd articles. And I'm a little bored of living on the financial margins. I don't want to go through all that unless I know what's on the other end is worth the struggle, you know?

Hi tru,

I'm four years in and will likely take another two to finish. I've knocked out a solid half of a draft thesis, and done a lot of research.

I've considered dropping out in the past and pressing some of my entrepreneurial schemes, but thing is, I think the academic bug has bitten me hard enough I'd want to finish this research anyway. So I figure I might as well endure, finish up, and then make the decision on where to go next. Bit of a sticker as well, I like to finish what I start. I wouldn't do it again if I could go back in time, but I see no reason to waste all my sacrifice this far.

As said, I'm self sufficient enough I can carry on working as an academic after graduating with no change in tempo. It's just a case of trying to ascertain whether it's worth the hassle or not. I don't like working for other people or being managed much, so academia seemed ideal, but from what I hear these days, that's not so much the case anymore...

My family is poor. I've been struggling to raise the funds to move out for some time, as fees and needing to cover some of my mother's medical bills drain most of my surplus funds. My long-term girlfriend has severe mental health problems and requires constant attention and support. Her family is dysfunctional, with her father's dementia rapidly deteriorating. They too have needed considerable support of late (her mother had a major operation). There are no siblings or other close family to help.

My PhD subject area was a huge amount to bite off. It requires considerable amounts of travel, and perhaps four times as much raw paperwork/analysis/processing as your average PhD in my field. It also spans a few different subjects instead of being confined to one. Due to my library being an absolute pain to utilise for several reasons (which I won't go into here) I have to fund all my book reading through physical purchases.

Finally, I myself have struggled with mental health issues my whole life. I've grappled with and come to terms with most of them, but the constant pressure of all the above really gets to me sometimes. It manifests as physical exhaustion and weakness, which as a physically strong man, is quite strange to feel when it happens. I'm four years in, upgraded, and just about holding it together; but it doesn't half make you wonder why you bother.

I fell into the PhD more by chance than anything else, and whilst I enjoy it, knowing what a rat run getting a job is afterwards? I'm really not sure about it. I'm in a better position than most to aim for it, as I've got independent income and am well used to being completely isolated as a researcher. The thought of another seven years of almost-poverty and working my arse off for scraps is not, however, particularly appealing.

Is the academic end job actually worth it? Opinions invited.

This thread is meant to serve partially as a place to vent, and partially as a general place to look for advice.

I'm a part-time self-funded doctoral student (humanities), four years in at a Russell Group University (top in the country for my field). I started my PhD with what appeared to be reasonable prospects of getting funding at some point from one of three different sources; but all of them turned out to be unworkable over the following year. So I work part-time and run a web business on the side to make the money to pay for my living costs and tuition fees.

Unfortunately, that's the tip of the iceberg. I have a supervisor who very much subscribes to the old school 'Come back in six years and show me what you have' approach to supervising (when I first showed up he didn't even know he was my supervisor). So I've had absolutely no active academic direction or help at any stage. I meet with him maybe twice a year for a forty five minute meeting? And he otherwise sends me three sentence emails maybe another three or four times a year. He's been absolutely spot on when it comes to things like grant paperwork to his credit, but he's otherwise not present.