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So what good is a PhD

So what good is a PhD. Harley Wood Winter School: 30 June 2012. Anyway ?. Art from Adelaide Festival of Ideas 2011. Less Than You May Think. Does not guarantee you a job in astronomy Does not guarantee you a job in closely-related field

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So what good is a PhD

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  1. So what good is a PhD Harley Wood Winter School: 30 June 2012 Anyway ? Art from Adelaide Festival of Ideas 2011

  2. Less Than You May Think • Does not guarantee you a job in astronomy • Does not guarantee you a job in closely-related field • Can make some consider you “over-qualified” for some positions outside academia • Does not usually confer communication or persuasion skills • Does not make your family and friends hold you in awe

  3. More Than You May Think • Indication that you can think independently and manage long-term projects (i.e., your thesis) • Indication you can think logically and self-critically • Often indicates you can do maths and/or program computers (big plus) • Especially if combined with communication skills, puts you in position for jobs you never imagined • Permission to use the title “Dr” X to decrease time you are placed on hold when calling utility companies, etc

  4. Careers (and lives) are not Generally Linear My “career” over 3 continents has included (inhale . . .): • Agricultural worker • Factory worker • Store Clerk • Tutor and Physics laboratory instructor • Practice teaching at secondary school level • Writing for a science magazine • Teaching physics at University • Doing high-energy physics and biophysics research • Team-teaching a University-level critical-thinking class • Scientific editor and writer for an annual report • Writing successful and unsuccessful job applications • Managing discrimination and sexual harassment . . .

  5. Keep Breathing . . . . . . Continued: • Managing grants at the US National Science Foundation (think “ARC”) • Writing successful and unsuccessful grant applications • Astronomy research, independent & leading large teams • Managing ethical and personal conflicts at work • Teaching astronomy at University level • Supervising research students • Sitting on time- and grant-allocation committees • Interviewing (successfully and not) for many positions • Giving very large public lectures • Serving as Director of a research centre (RSAA) and observatory (SSO) • Writing and reviewing many technical articles . . .

  6. Remember to Breathe . . . Continued: • Sitting on more committees than was healthy • Managing million dollar budgets and staff of 80 • Liasing with legal and heritage teams after 2003 bushfires • Writing for non-technical magazines/newspapers • Board member for local and international organizations • Government employee as Chief Scientist for Australia • Speaking to school children of all ages about science • Speaking and writing briefs to politicians about science • Speaking to boards of industries about science • Working as a private consultant • A new step combining art, social and physical science

  7. . . . Exhale. Now Ask Yourself • For many of those activities did my PhD and University training prepare me ? ? ? • Answer: < 10%

  8. Bottom Line • Your PhD is only a small part of the education you need • Your supervisor is only one of many useful advisors • Think in terms of skills, not just outputs: • My goal is not only to finish this thesis, but to learn these skills (be specific) • I am planning both for a working life in astronomy, and a working life outside astronomy • Make a written plan

  9. Your Plan, Your Life • Write a 1-year, 2-year and 5-year plan • Include outputs (I will produce X), outcomes (which should result in Y happening), skills (while teaching me how to Z), and experience (and allow me to apply skills in unthesis-related ways) • Include outputs, outcomes, skills and experience both for a working life in astronomy and a working life outside astronomy • Include who will be a resource for you at each step • Keep it brief. Be flexible. Be bold. • Review (and probably modify) it at least once per year • Discuss it with your supervisor, encouraging them to think in this way with you. • Brainstorm the plan with all the other “whos”.

  10. Three Universally Useful Skills • Verbal and written communication • Project management • Quantitative reasoning, maths and programming ALL EMPLOYERS FIND THESE ATTRACTIVE

  11. Network, Network • Think about all those things in my career and the careers of others that a PhD generally does NOT prepare you for • How can you, with your networks, prepare yourself? • Openly discuss these issues • With your supervisor • With your peers • With graduate students in other fields • At the pub • Build YOUR OWN professional networks inside astronomy and outside. Within Australia and overseas.

  12. If you are Thinking of Leaving your PhD • Think again. Look at your plan. Could you change it in a way that would make you reconsider? • If not. Make a radical outside-the-box list of possibilities outside astronomy for which your outputs, outcomes, skills and experience are relevant. What can you do right now to make them even more relevant or stronger. • Discuss it with several of your “whos” to pick their brains (and networks). • Repeat the three steps above.

  13. “Success” • Don’t fall into this common (unspoken) trap: Success = a post-doc followed by a life in astronomy Failure = anything else • Success is living a life you enjoy and are proud of. Period.

  14. And Don’t Forget Harley Wood Winter School: 30 June 2012 To Breathe Art from Adelaide Festival of Ideas 2011

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