My PhD is in computational materials science.

After joining for PhD, initially, I was unmotivated as I was not able to understand how to proceed with my research. The project got interesting after 1.5 years into the PhD as I started understanding the fundamentals better. But it took more than 2 years to get some publishable results.

When I started my PhD, I had confidence that I will do well and get next position easily. However things did not go well overall. Highlights from my PhD experience can be summarized as follows:

First: it has taken me a year more to complete my PhD than my colleagues. I have taken 5 years to submit my thesis.

Second: I have just 1 first author and 1 second author publication from my PhD till now. 3 more manuscripts will be submitted in a month.

Third: I have no internship experience. Just 4 months of R&D job experience after my Masters. My PhD advisor did not appreciate taking internship during PhD.

Fourth: I am applying for industrial positions and postdoc positions and have not received any positive response.

I am really worried about my future. I am an international (Indian) student in the US and don't know what will I do once I graduate. My advisor doesn't help me with academic contact, and I am not receiving any response from my applications.

I am finding it hard to stay positive and keep it together. I am already 30 years old. I feel useless and am questioning my decisions 5 years ago.

Has anyone else gone through this? How did you stay positive?