Hi everyone,
I'm in a bit of a dilemma at the moment and I just wondered what your thoughts are on the following...

Basically I'm just starting my third yr in a biological sciences PhD and I'm starting to think about future career plans etc. But this PhD malarky has been tough on me (as I think it has on you all by the sounds of it!) and I don't think I can face a career in academia. The politics/bulls**t/backstabbing does my head in! Plus I find it dull and uninspiring but that might just be the dept I'm in.

Now I've found a career that might be possible, that is in the business/banking world and looks really interesting! And would pay very generously!!

So after the waffle, do you think I would be an ungrateful, spoilt madame to waltz off to the banking world after completing the PhD, having used all those resources and not continuing with my research? Or is the PhD mine, and I don't owe anyone anything and I can do what I like with my career direction?

What do you think??! Thanks.

you most definately wont be a spoilt ungrateful madam. the phd is yours and you dont owe anyone anything! if banking attracts you, then go for it!

i am also in the biological sciences, and i too have been so jaded by the backstabbing and lab politics, that i do not want to stay in academia! and i used to love studying biology!

after i finish my phd. i am going to have a career change, maybe something in psychology.

but doing a phd, does help to build skills, like independent work and etc you know what you would have taken from your phd. you dont have to stay in your subject just because you did a phd in it. in the past it was more common to do so. but the world is your oyster! life is too short. do what makes you happy! and forget everyone else!!

Hell no! Go for it.

A

I have a pal that works for Barclays in The City. I'm informed there a good bit (i.e lot) of"politics/bulls**t/backstabbing" going on there. That said you're much better paid to put up with such crap there.

Quite the opposite.

They have "used" you, by having them you providing them with cheap labour. At a wider level, they have also set up the system so that the majority of PhD graduates HAVE to leave academia because there aren't enough jobs for them. You owe them nothing, and you have done them a huge favour by being the bottom rung of their little power games.

Its right that there is politics and backbiting everywhere, but in only in academia its such petty and trivial matters. In the city you will be fighting over $1 million deals and peoples livlihoods, rather than the petty "authorships" of papers no one in the real world gives two sh*ts about.

Definitely you don't owe anyone anything. It would be courteous to tell your supervisor that that's your intended path though as they then know where they stand. Like anyone who's worked outside academia before doing a PhD, I have to warn you that there are MUCH worse places for back-biting etc though so don't be surprised. I have a friend in banking and his tales make my hair stand on end and no it's not about big deals etc, it's the petty small things just like every job I've ever had.

True enough, I've known people manoeuvring for a better office chair! So do what makes you buzz with excitement, after all, you spend a third of your day at work and a good half of your life as well. Might as well make it something you enjoy.

'I don't think I can face a career in academia. The politics/bulls**t/backstabbing does my head in'

That's why I want to go *back* to academia.. as the backstabbing and politics in industry are going my head in..

If you want to go for a job or career, go for it.. just don't expect the grass to be greener on the other side!

I think all work places have their challenges, whether its in a university, some kind of think-tank, an NGO, a for profit business of some sort, etc...and most of them probably have to do with managing the sarky behaviour of others, whatever format that sarkiness takes, such as difficult bosses, co-workers, or people you supervise.

There is no perfect work place, and all of them have up sides and down sides. What is the Churchill saying about the fights in academia, that they are so fierce because so little is at stake?!

I always thought if I had so much time on my hands that I would have been involved in office politiking, then I really did not have enough to do. I would say the same about any work place or study situation. I try to remember the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and stay out of the nastiness.

Of course there is a third option.

You have spent many years directing your own path through your PhD so why not utilise those skills fully and form your own business? Ok I'm bias but why wait for academia or the city to 'give you a job' when you could create your own and make sure non of the aforementioned nastiness spoils your efforts.

I have never had a job in my life other than the ones I've created and I've employed over 2000 others. You could become an entrepreneur but the name on here is already taken

The PhD is the most self indulgent occupation you will ever encounter. Many of our academic colleagues wish they could do another one because it is so self expressive and unstructured. Just like setting up and running yourown business in fact.

Is your business related to your PhD? How did you choose your area of business? Just because I'm considering it after a year of trying to find a graduate job.