The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

This is exactly how it feels once you get over the initial elation of passing the blasted thing! Of course, with all the Ph.D.s creating little bumps all over the place, various people have to come along and fill in the gaps between the bumps. They don't get enough credit.

The Ph.D. is a piece of paper that shows that for 5+ years you were able to consistently push towards a (previously considered) unattainable goal. It is gruesome, the idea might not work, nobody else can help you because nobody else has tried, nobody cares about the myriad things that you tried and failed. You will literally become a different person after the phd experience. But trust me, these 2-3 nights over the span of 5+ years, when pieces somehow…

I really dislike this diagram. I think it just perpetuates a damaging stereotype about research, one that makes it harder for people trying to do (entirely valid) types of research that fall outside of the stereotype. The stereotype is that research is about making every-more specialised contributions that extend existing work in finer and finer-grained ways. What research falls outside of this stereotype? Synthesis. Theorising deeper foundations that connect disparate bits of knowledge and gives a deeper…

> 4. Ability to work with poorly defined goals. This is the most difficult part of a PhD for me. Note: This quote is from the article on which this thread was pointing to before it has been changed by mods. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13382223