Is Getting a Ph.D. Degree Worth It?
So...you have been a postdoc for five years and it is time to get a job. Trouble is...you cannot find one. You begin to wonder whether getting that Ph.D. degree was really worth all the trouble. Maybe, business or law school would have been a better idea?
The point that I am trying to make is that Ph.D. is not a ticket nor a guarantee for employment. As far as I can recall (it has been many years) nobody during the course of my graduate education ever said that my Ph.D. degree would insure that I would be able to gain meaningful employment. In fact, I will never forget what my major professor or "boss" said to me one day during one of his more enlightened moments (usually he would want me to put on a pair of boxing gloves and step into the ring with him)...."Getting a Ph.D. is like getting a union card. Just because you are in the union, and have paid your dues, does not mean that you are entitled to anything. It is up to you make something of yourself not the union."
Over the course of a long career, the only thing that I have found that Ph.D. training prepares you for is problem solving. Nothing more, nothing less. If all you wanted at the end of your training was a job, perhaps you should have gone to medical or law school!
Well said. I'm currently doing my Ph.D. degree and while it doesn't guarantee me a job, I am mostly happy because I'm interested in science, not money. I'm an evolutionary biologist myself and believe that I will conquer my own niche through specialization. My situation is of course easier than yours because I don't need costly equipment. Still, biology is a very wide branch, there is much to research. I hope that all greedy people read your blog and go to medical and law school!
Do you really think that all that Ph.D. training has given you is a boost to your problem solving skill? I cannot believe that. Doing research is more than problem solving or mechanical laboratory work. Here is what I have to do in a scientific project: read zillions of articles, discover the most important questions and hypotheses, design your study system, write the research plan, write grant applications, carry out your study, store your data and, analyze and interpret your data, write the manuscript, send the manuscript to journals, answer the referees' stupid comments. After that, I start the cycle again.
You may be right. But I feel that compared to graduates and post graduates, Ph. D's find it a little easier to get a job.
No, it doesn't make it any easier to find a job. After my PhD I had an anxious 3 months before taking the first postdoc position that came along, which was one no-one else wanted. After that I did a year of night shifts working in a homeless hostel for minimum wage. Then, in desperation, I went back to university and got a teaching qualification. As an hourly-paid tutor I earn a third what I would be earning if I were a school teacher.
It's a damn good thing I did my PhD for the intellectual challenge of it, because it has been worth damn all to me in terms of improving my career prospects.
"No, it doesn't make it any easier to find a job..."
"first postdoc position that came along, which was one no-one else wanted"
Maybe without a PhD it would have been more difficult.
NO!
PhD's find it harder to get a job.
Anonymous, Ph.D.
I just graduated with a PhD in Higher Ed from a top-tier university with quite a bit of experience and still unemployed. My MBA opened more doors. Don't ever quit your good day job to pursue the doctoral degree!
Thank you for the post. I agree with you completely. I think in order to obtain a PH.D it must be for the love of a particular subject, not for the purpose of a better job.
For me, I start the Doctorate program this fall. My goal is to publish books regarding my subject of expertise, which is employee relations. I hope to not have a typical 9-5, but instead, own my own bookstore, as well as publish books. I think having a PH.D creates confidence, and allows readers to believe we are experts with respect to our writings. I wish anyone the best of luck, including myself, for deciding to continue their education and receive a PH.D. Good for you! =)
"Different strokes for different folks". I am 60 years old and I am planning to retire shortly. I am in reasonably good health and want to remain vibrant. I am planning on giving myself the gift of a PhD in retirement. If I have to keep my mind active through reading a lot, then a double reward for doing so will be well worth it!
Good for you Georgie. I wish you the best. I just finished my Masters, taking a break right now. I have been working full time all along, but rumors fly that my position will go within 3 years, well that may be the time for me to go for the PhD.
PhDs absolutely find it easier to get a job. Look at unemployment and wage statistics by education level.
The jobs might not be academic, but nearly everyone with a PhD has a job.
Wow all this comments are scaring me. This is only my first year in university (electrical engineering) and i am way far away from getting a PhD. I want to get a PhD in the futur but would also like to have a decent job relating to Electrical engineering. So is it really worth getting a PhD in electrical engineering - engineering field?
In most disciplines, a PhD is only useful as a prerequisite for obtaining academic positions. As there are far, far more PhDs than there are academic positions, most PhDs find themselves searching for employment elsewhere. Within most disciplines, there is usually only slight preference given to PhDs over those holding an MS and the extra years of work experience that someone gained by not pursuing a PhD usually trumps the PhD. In many disciplines, the PhD hinders employment as it is assumed that the PhD is ultimately in search of an academic post and will jump ship if one opens up. The PhD also makes it very difficult to switch fields as one is assumed to be far too specialized and some employers, including much of the private sector, think of this level of academic training as spoiling one for a faster-paced, less precise work environment. I know more than one person who has had trouble finding work after receiving a PhD, only to succeed after leaving that off their CV and explaining that they were unemployed for a few years. People with PhDs have very low unemployment rates primarily because they tend to be bright and hardworking people, not because they have a degree. I would only engage in a PhD if you have an exclusive focus on teaching at the university level or really love the program.