Its actually pretty common. I just did what people told me to cus i had no real idea of what i wanted to do

Ngl i barely even knew what a phd was when i applied

This was during peak BLM era so i think there was a lot of hubris around being a black scientist. The market has completely reversed on that, they couldnt care less about race

I deadass jus stopped caring about it when i rly got into making music

Shidd i might jus move to atl an try to become a music engineer/prod

Sorry to bump this thread but i wanted to share this insight i had

The reason i think research in science is a bad idea is because all the low hanging fruit are gone and theres rly not much for someone who isnt literally einstein to do. Research has progressed so far thhat they dont need a ton of people, and the people they do need must be visionary, dedicated and smart af. I just dont have the desire or energy to keep up with that s***. Also theyre singularly focused on AI which i f***ing despise

Now i can move on with my life

Damn nigga, you got me motivated to up and leave my job TODAY lol…

Also you spent how much yrs/bread for a PHD just to dip out this early?

Y’all must live some charmed lives on here lol…

I mean yea my family isnt poor but the assumption is with a phd youll be able to land a pretty nice job, but with the software engineering market crashing and AI adoption taking over its jus not that simple now

My field (image a***ysis) was completely taken over by AI, which i have some experience with but not enough to land a job in the field most likely

Also you dont pay anything to do a phd, they actually pay you, its basically a job

Image a***ysis might be the worst thing in the world to do a PhD in in the last 10 years

i walked away from triple my current salary for a better work life and opportunity to continue building my resume

f*** em! (but this time I’m tryna stay for a while)

Recruiting companies work both ways brother

of course, but it will make finding a job a lot easier cause every company that has legit structure has a recruiting team and they consistently have turnovers

No doubt the market f***ing sucks for that, last job i interviewed with had over 1000 applicants

I did biology mixed with comp sci, like a***yzing biological images from microscopes, once deep learning hit the field basically died overnight, its too easy

changing fields is hard especially the older you get unless you can just start a business or something

there are a lot of other jobs i want but i'd be taking a 75% pay decrease for some of them which gets you trapped

i was trying to find jobs i didn't have enough real world experience for to change fields slightly and i was trying for months, i was still looking in tech also

tried getting another job as a system engineer had one in 2 weeks

Isnt there some other jobs in biology you could apply for? Also wouldn't it be an idea to learn more about AI (take some kind of extra courses at a credible/prestigious institution) so you could do the job of a***yzing the microscopic images using AI? That looks like the obvious thing to do tbh, as long as you'd enjoy it of course.

Hmm yea there are postdocs for continuing research, problem is theyre VERY competitive and usually require more experience actually developing novel AI models which isnt rly my background

Im currently in a call learning about clinical trials research so maybe ill do that

Yea it seems like the competiton for jobs in general is high so why hire someone from a different background

right especially right now, people seem to be looking for low risk senior hires more than anything.. at least when i was searching in the computer engineering field

when someone hiring sees over a decade of experience working in a field they want to hire you cause it feels safer i found also after doing a ton of interviews last year

they just assume you've seen it all, someone from a different field hasn't

i even submitted my resume with a few places that were like no we don't want you as a software or ai engineer but if you see any openings for systems/cloud apply we'll interview you lol

take risks, including side hustles to boost your CV, and unfortunately, odd gigs - nothing that could hurt you though, talking about buying and selling goods

Edit: consider working in the public sector too

no s***

use linkedin to contact fellow alumni and schedule talks

they provide a lot of insight as to what unspoken stuff your job field will expect of you. You'll also build impressions upon these people and they'll be able to refer and advocate for you for open job positions

join professional organizations to meet people, get certified in important skills in your field, read and learn legislation surrounding your job field, lie on your resume and find people who will lie for you too

yeaa im trying, been applying to damn near everything, trying to find different avenues to find jobs online, wish i could just go to a career fair or something

i do need to reach out to more alumni thats definitely on the list, ive reached out to some friends but ig theyre busy or some s*** idk

What is your PhD in?

I hope to get a bcba-D in the future for research myself but I may have some options to mention if you have degrees in specific fields

You may need nothing or even a short grad level certificate. Idk what you're really interested in though

Biology

As far as research goes i try to avoid benchwork/lab work cus i have a physical disability that affects my manual abilities

Im more math/computational maybe i can like design chemistry protocols but thats about it

Ahh ok we are on pretty separate sides of science. Basically any ideas I have for you are psychology/social related and I think a physical disability would make most not feasible.

You could become a wfh bcba and provide telehealth supervision easily with a certificate though. Not uncommon to make 100k+. But getting your fieldwork hours could be really annoying which you'll need on top of the cert.