Hi all,
I’ve been working in an industry closely related to my engineering masters for the last 18 months. However, due to the nature of our next generation products my role is moving me away from the job profile I originally applied for. Given the current business needs of my employer and the economic down turn, I’m in a very weak position to try and argue the case necessary to move my career back on course and into an area that holds my interest, so I started to look elsewhere for employment as I am currently extremely dissatisfied with the role and future prospects.
I’m open to the suggestion that I’m over reacting, but I applied to and have been accepted for a PhD position. My industry experience has given me a key insight into current knowledge gaps preventing more advanced product development and this PhD has the potential to assist in plugging one of those gaps as it is specifically tailored to the needs of industry. It’s in an area that I’m keenly interested in developing my skills but actually working in the area will be as new to me as I think most phd topics will be to their new students.
The factors influencing my final decision are these,
Financial –
- 25% cut in take home pay, suspension/end of pension contributions
- End of death in service benefits
- Having to restart career progression on a return to industry
- I’ll be 29 on graduation with no significant savings/investments

Security in a recession –
- My job is relatively secure through union agreements
- There is no guarantee of a job at the end of the phd
- There is no guarantee that the phd will be successful, no matter how hard I work at it

Two years ago, there would have been excellent prospects at the end of this research, and it would have been worth taking the risk that for what ever reason things don’t work out, I ‘d be able to get a job with my Masters. Now the future is harder to predict. So I’d really appreciate advice on weighing the potential risks with obvious gains.
Cheers,
RJ