The PhD Grind book review - Job hunt

Last updated on:a year ago

As Philip Guo said, “people suffering under oppressive managers“. So I think the most welcomed jobs for a PhD degree holder is “tenure professor and research scientist“. I also composed some content from the book The PhD Grind.

Tenure professors

What is tenure professors?

My mother pursues her own intellectual interests with nearly full freedom.

Professors usually earn tenure (a lifetime employment guarantee) if they have published enough notable papers in their first seven years on the job.

About academic job hunt

The academic job hunt is a stressful process that consumes almost all of one’s waking time and mental energy.

Work as a postdoc (temporary postdoctoral researcher) for a few years, publish more papers, and then reapply to faculty jobs.

The kinds of research topics I’m deeply passionate about aren’t very amenable to winning grant funding, because they aren’t well-accepted by today’s academic establishment.

Grant reviewers will likely be even less sympathetic since they are the gatekeepers to millions of dollars

Research scientists

The full-time researchers are like professors, except that they can focus nearly all of their time on research since they don’t have teaching or advising duties.

Getting a full-time researcher position at MSR is as difficult as getting a job as a professor at a prestigious university.

Reference

[1] Philp Guo, The PhD. Grind