I read here once that people who’ve earned their doctorates can “make their own jobs”. It seemed to make sense when I first read it, but now after reading some graduate unemployment horror stories, I’m starting to question that. So what does a PhD actually entitle you to? How exactly does a PhD holder “make their own job”? I’m referring to life sciences here, but it might apply to other specialties.
What do you mean by “make their own jobs?” I have no idea what that means in this context.
That’s what I’m trying to figure out. From what I gleamed at first, it seems like they are entitled to start or carry out desired research in academia in almost all circumstances. I’ve got no idea if it’s true, but if it is, I’m wondering how they go about getting their own research projects.
I can see how experienced, highly productive researchers might be able to create their own jobs by successfully getting funding for their research. You decide what your research is about rather than having a boss or supervisor tell you. Many universities would be willing to hire you if you bring your own funding with you. You need to have a successful ongoing career for this to work. Maybe you are talking about something else, though.
Ah, I think I understand what you’re getting at (but correct me if I’m wrong). One of the things academics often cite about why they like their job is because of the research independence. In industry or when you’re working in someone else’s lab, you’re beholden to their research goals. You have to work on what they want you to work on. As a principal investigator, you choose what you’re researching. There’s a big caveat, though - you have to go where the money is. In order to do your research, you need grant funding, and grants are incredibly competitive now (around 7% for the NIH, I think). Being a PI isn’t just having a PhD, though. You get your PhD then go through a series of post docs until you hopefully get a faculty position, then start building up your own research so you can apply for the big lab-sustaining grants you need (like the $1 million 5-year grants). If you don’t get that funding, you lose your job. In other words, it’s not a utopia of research freedom.
A PhD is basically a hunting license for the very few high level science jobs available and the fewer still that are applicable to your training.
First off we have the issues with the PhD program itself.
http://liv.dreamwidth.org/389934.html
This article although no written for Science PhD programs in the US in particulary describes exactly the situation I saw in grad school. It is now a 5-7 year program where you need to find a mentor who is actually interested in helping to develop you rather than use you as a cheap lab tech or Teaching Assistant. There are a lot of sociopaths with tenure who will use and abuse you.
Then as I indicated above there far far far more PhD scientists than there are jobs or grants for. It is like game of musical chairs only there are 100 players and 3 chairs. We then have scientists who sacrificed their 20’s and 30’s busting their rear working gruelling hours and training only to waste away in post-docs and end up unemployed or an adjunct professor or making poverty wages teaching community college part time.
The situation is really quite tragic and a horrible waste of some of the brightest minds in our country. Please don’t get brainwashed by a romanticized and propagandised view of a scientific career. It is not pretty for most people. There are a lot of destroyed lives.
There are a lot of destroyed lives in a lot of careers. Having been so focused on science, I’ve been told countless stories of career success and disasters. The problem I think is that there’s not much in academia in the middle, long term, between the lab tech and tenure-track. I don’t think the broad types of challenges in scientific academia are unique.
So my opinion is that the advice that PhDs can “make their own jobs” is largely a myth. It’s in the same vein of advice that anybody can be an entrepreneur if they just have a little grit and a great idea or whatnot.
Can PhDs freelance and/or work as an independent contractor? Of course. There are lots of companies that hire PhDs for all kinds of consultative services, especially if you have a “hard” skill like computer programming, editing/writing, web design, or quantitative analysis. But you could also do that with a master’s degree or even a bachelor’s depending on your level of experience. It’s not the degree that does it. You have to be good at what you do, and you have to beat the pavement for clients and build your business from the ground up…just like anyone else.
Some PhDs can talk their way into a full-time job with employers because they have special skills the employer didn’t realize they needed, sometimes by doing freelance work first for the employer. But that’s not special to PhDs, either - you can do that with a BA or MA and enough experience. You can also do that if you are a savvy person who’s good at talking.
A PhD, like any other degree, entitles you to nothing. You have to go out and find a job on your own. However, there are certain categories of jobs that PhDs generally fill:
- University and college professors. This is usually what PhDs want to do when they start their programs. Professors do some combination of research and teaching. The holy grail is a tenure-track position - which means you work for 6 years, ideally get tenure, and then have lifetime job security. This kind of job is largely going away, which means that the competition for the few remaining positions is fierce, even in the sciences. Generally science PhDs tend to postdoc for a long time (at least 3-4 years, sometimes as much as 7-9+) before they get their first tenure-track job. You have to publish a lot and get grants, and the hours are very long (you routinely work 50-60 hours a week, and not at regular hours, either). And even after postdocing you may never get a TT job.
Most professors these days are actually contingent laborers. They teach a few classes on a contract basis, and get paid an average of $3,000 per class with no benefits, no office, no job security. You can see that they are way cheaper for a college and so college administrations take advantage of the oversupply of PhDs this way.
Honestly, these days my advice for aspiring professors is kind of akin to the advice to aspiring artists or actors or musicians. Getting a professor job these days is kind of like that - you have to be amazing and lucky. And in the mean time, you’ll be doing low-wage work so you can have enough time to do all the stuff you have to do to look amazing. For some people, they’d rather do that than give up the chance of ever becoming an artist, so they are okay with that. And for others, they prefer job security and a steady income, so they’re not.
- Research positions in non-academic organizations. This could be anything - government laboratories, like the Department of Defense or the National Institutes of Health; other nonprofits, like think tanks (RAND Corp or RTI) or nonprofits that focus on providing research or applied knowledge (like Kaiser Family Foundation); or for-profit laboratories or companies.
The opportunities can actually be pretty great in non-academic positions for certain PhDs. Computer science and electrical engineering PhDs have it made right now in a wide variety of fields. A lot of physics and math PhDs go into data science, technology, or into quantitative finance. Sometimes certain biology or chemistry PhDs can go into pharmaceutical research or biotechnology. Economics PhDs also have it made in the shade. And honestly, I didn’t find any shortage of positions for psychology PhDs - this is particularly true if you have a clinical degree and want to work for the VA or some other social work organization but I have a nonclinical degree and found lots of jobs at market research organizations and technology companies as well as at think tanks and nonprofits. Political scientists with PhDs, particularly those with strong quantitative skills, have good prospects outside of academia. I also have some friends and colleagues with other social sciences and humanities PhDs who work outside of academia in a variety of roles (a lot of businesses are hiring anthropologists these days…to do cultural and social research on their customers so they can tailor their products!)
That said, I still wouldn’t recommend that anyone do a PhD unless they really, really want a job that requires a PhD (either being a professor - and they don’t mind knowing that they’ll be completing the requirements for 6-10 years with very low chances of ever becoming one - or becoming a researcher in one of the positions I mentioned above). And even then, a lot of the second kind of job will take someone with a master’s degree and several years of experience.