Anyone else in a Ph.D program here? I feel like the life is

Your work is your life

>>7709685
But is that life?

>>7709669

I'm in a PhD program, it's only first year though.

I am getting terrified of all the shit I read like this OP, but I don't know how reliable these complaints are

>>7710204
First year+ whenever you take your qualifying exams is easily the most stressful time of the program.

After that its just sort existential pangs of "What am I doing here..."

That which has no life cannot die. Also drink more coffee.

>>7710204
PHd is terrifying. I am on a fucking awesome project, but I am worried I will fuck it up and our team is just awful. This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity. You can't be the first to discover something if someone else does it first

assuming you have reliable funding, all you have to do is just keep showing up every day and making progress and eventually you will get there

>>7709669
>How do I stop that?
Quit your PhD and get a real job.

>>7710204
>but I don't know how reliable these complaints are
Read PHD comics.

>>7709669
It's all in the mind.

>phd in physics

No one can know the horror of sitting in a lab by your self for 10 hours twisting a knob and recording a value

>>7712147
Not really.

Let's face it we are wasting our lives. The chance of getting tenure isn't worth it. We fucked up.

>>7712154
Knew grad students who just looked at their chromatography colums. Fluid dripping man.

>>7712154
>>7712164
>Doing manual labour
Why don't you just get your HOD to hire more lab techs so you can focus more on cool stuff like modelling, programming controllers for robots and studying/research?

Oh right, you're too poor.

>lolololololol scientists

>>7709669

Welcome to hell. Suicide is the only way out.

>>7709669
Ranking of PhDs:
1. Marketable PhDs: Finance, CS, Economics, Marketing, etc
2. Humanities PhDs
3. Lab Science PhDs

Hope you didn't pick the last category anon

>>7712293

You forgot about math.

>>7712489
Fairly marketable, can actually land a job assuming technical skills

>>7712293
What about applied sciences (e.g. PhD in chemical engineering)

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>>7712145
>real job
nigga some 'real jobs' are only attainable by slogging through this shit in the first place

for example, you will be hard pressed to find someone with a BS/MS in engineering doing any serious development work for core physics groups working on massive CFD/FEA codes

>>7712146

I do, but that's just making me more full of dread but also uncertainty about whether it's just complaining for comedy's sake or if it's real

>>7712538
PhD candidate in ChemE here.

Don't fall for it, oversaturated and underpaid as fuck. Go work in industry research if you really despise process engineering. It's not just product development like these retards on /sci/ believe, I know BEng's who are working on fundamental stat. mech. models, exploratory mat sci etc.

>>7712541
>you will be hard pressed to find someone with a BS/MS in engineering doing any serious development work for core physics groups working on massive CFD/FEA codes
No, you really won't, a PhD will make you less employable for coding jobs than and MEng. Even a BEng could do it.

>>7712547
It's real. Actually sugar coats a lot of things, reality is worse. Most Professors are as smart and laid back as Prof. Smith. They're fucking petty assholes trying to compensate for the fact that they're not as smart as they want to be. Usually they take it out on their grad-students in childish ways.

>>7712552
>coding jobs
these are not code monkey roles, have you worked in this field before?

>>7712548
In fact I am a chemistry student, currently doing my master's thesis in heterogeneous catalysis. My work is focused on the synthesis aspects, and I'd like to switch to the ChemE standpoint on this field (so more related to the kinetics, reactors,..)

>>7712146
Those neckbeard memesters are a disgrace to science.

>>7712566
Fluids specifically no. I coded FEM simulations for novel non-linear models during my senior year BEng internship at a private R&D lab and basically you're retarded for thinking you need a PhD. At most you'll need an M in the field to get hired, I have enough meche friends to corroborate that.

> I'd like to switch to the ChemE standpoint on this field (so more related to the kinetics, reactors,..)
It's the same thing at a PhD level because you're going to specialize in some niche research field anyway (you won't have structured course work, especially not in engineering where your coursework usually stops after your M). Just read up on reaction engineering in your spare time and do a chemistry PhD in your field. If you want to work in reaction engineering design do a BEng in ChemE because there's no such thing as accredited engineering PhDs meaning you can't get your professional license without the BEng (or in some rare cases an MEng) to your name.

The wiki page is really good for self study. Skip the mass and energy balances section unless you want an overview of the field, not really needed your background. It's mostly meant to rewire the way young students think, it's more creative problem solving and logic problems than knowledge. Transport* and chemical thermo** is a strict requisite for reaction engineering and you definitely need to start there, get the first text in every section:
http://4chan-science.wikia.com/wiki/Chemical_Engineering

You can also skip separation processes until you start working on more advanced reactors such as reactive distillation columns. Strictly speaking you don't need to know control engineering for steady state reaction engineering, but I highly recommend you pick up Seborg at some point anyway.

*Continuum mech/Heat+Mass transfer
** (physical chemistry and statistical mechanics is not enough, there's is a LOT more to classical chem solutions thermo and it's very important to study through SvA before anything else)

>>7712632 (Me)
>Meant to quote >>7712570 after the first paragraph

>>7712547
I did a PhD in Physics. Today, many years later I am still reading PhD Comics and smile of the stories that were genuine horrors back in the day.

Yes, it is tough and yes it is under appreciated but yes you will get through it alive. Just don't give in. And when the time comes to start writing your thesis you (like most people before you) will feel there is not enough material to start writing about but in reality there is.

And get out and get some fresh air now and then. Go to the cinema etc.

And whenever life goes against you just stand up and shout NIL CARBORUNDUM!

This worked for me. And now, my friend, it is your turn.

>>7712632
Thanks for the recs
I study in Europe, and I don't really seek an engineering accreditation. I just have an increasing interest for the ChemE standpoint of "catalytic (reaction) engineering".
I am currently enrolled in a process engineering course, and I think I will try to take a course on reactor design (based on Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design by Froment, great book). Anyway, it will be either a PhD in chem of cheme, depending on the opportunities I will have

>>7712657

Thanks for the encouragement... I'm in my first semester, how it works at my uni is that the first year is just classes + mentor searching (we have to do 3 rotations with profs over the year to see if we like each other), second year is preparing your proposal + giving it, then years 3+ are actually doing your research. Also, I know I have to TA an undergrad class, but I don't know when or for how long

I'm not really very stressed out so far, but I can imagine it's gonna get real bad in the second year

>>7712657
>>7712670

Oh, and to be honest, I"m more concerned about "over worked" than "under appreciated"

>>7712660
Don't really know continental Europoor's system.

To be honest Fogler is usually the best for your first exposure, it also happens to be the most extensive, but meh it's probably better to use what the course is using.

>>7712657
You sound like a masochistic really.

I'm doing masters for microbio starting in january. All I ever see is shit talking about grad school. pretty nervous

>>7712632
>I coded FEM simulations for novel non-linear models during my senior year BEng internship at a private R&D lab what specifically did you and your peers do at that level? when you refer to 'coding simulations', were you yourself formulating brand new models and algorithms from first principles or implementing/testing what was assigned to you? I'm in fluids btw, I've met plenty of people that 'do CFD' with a BS (even with coding roles), but further probing has always revealed that they are using, modifying, or validating what somebody else has already created.

>>7712694
Don't be. Lab sciences PhD's are the godawful ones, not masters. People on /sci/ talk shit about grad school because either a) they got rejected b) are miserable anyway so they shitpost on /sci/

Calcitonin or Parathyroid hormone in intermittent doses could help you OP.

>>7709669

GIT FUCKING GUD OP

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-deming-b255362a

>not working in PhD program at 14yo

>>7712866
Goddammit anon greentext right.

>what specifically did you and your peers do at that level?
I was doing the mathematical modelling and coding because basically everyone else on the project was retarded except the lead scientists who's a chemistry PhD, but he sucked at math and couldn't code which is why he brought engineering interns in in the first place.
>'coding simulations', were you yourself formulating brand new models
Yes, non-linear, non-homogenous PDE models very distinct from more ideal transfer cases, the final model consisted of 14 PDEs and 72 algebraic equations, simplifications weren't accurate enough to fit the data.
>and algorithms from first principles or implementing/testing what was assigned to you?
We couldn't use commercial software due to the unique classification of our system. I coded it from scratch which involved everything from the discretization for simulation, to analytical work in finding the minimum time steps required for a specified discretization, to the optimization of the empirical parameters etc.
>I'm in fluids btw, I've met plenty of people that 'do CFD' with a BS (even with coding roles), but further probing has always revealed that they are using, modifying, or validating what somebody else has already created.
And you actually believed that a PhD would ensure you'd be doing anything different? Topkek. The experience those BS guys garnered are going to get them promoted over you.

We aren't in science where you're still a child after getting your BSc and need to do a PhD to get a modicum of respect. You're excepted to be able to pick any fields and skills you need in self-study after your BEng. Only a child needs to have his hand held in grad-school coursework. You're a professional goddammit, fucking act like it.

And I say all that as someone who is currently a self-hating PhD candidate (only reason I'm here is because I really like the specific project I was offered which is highly theoretical work).

>>7712632
>SvA
?

>>7713812
Smith, Van Ness and Abbott

Full title is in the wiki entry.

>>7713314
Grad school sucks

>>7712657
You sound like cool dude.

Thanks, man.

>>7712657
I'm a third year Physics PhD, reading this makes me feel better about taking this PhD. And honestly it might just be because my advisor just doesn't give a shit but I feel it's been getting easier

>>7709669

Fourth year here. Nuclear engineering. Here's the motto I use to keep me going

>It wouldn't be called 'the minimum' if it weren't good enough.

Just do what it takes to graduate and then leave.

>>7713718
What kind of company were you doing this at? I did not see this at all while I was working in school, the only time I got to formulate and code from scratch was in a CFD lab at uni doing undergrad research. I interned at fluids-centric places where they either used canned software or developed in-house frameworks for specialized problems. One was at a large company while others were at smaller R&D firms, both instances fully populated by engineers of all degree levels. In all cases, there was not a single retard to be found and everyone was competent. The breakdown of work I saw was generally the following:

>BS
Running flow analyses following best practices, mesh clean-up, post-processing and model validation tasks, and in the cases with in-house codes - editing outer subroutines but nothing to do with developing the solvers or physical models. Interns & BS with little background were hired for this.

>MS
Independently tackling new flow analyses with no set guidelines, creating & validating best practices for simulations the company hasn't done before, selecting and implementing existing models for new simulations, and greater design responsibility. Graduates were typically hired, the required background was /usually/ just not there drawing from a BS.

>PhD
Principal investigators, deep theory and algorithm development, researching & discovering modifications for the solvers and developing brand new models/methods, working on the core physics and applied mathematics side. I saw them most commonly in the places with in-house codes, where the background was highly sought after.

People in industry I met through my lab also corroborated this (nobody goes unhired at any level really, it just depends on what you want to do), however I'm aware that companies do things differently. You mention peers that are also involved in CAE work, what has their experience been like?

>>7710204

Lifestyle-wise, being in a PhD program is the best thing ever. I get paid regularly, I work whatever hours I want to work. I do whatever the fuck I want to do. I am literally living the life. Today I stayed home to play with my dog, just because.

>>7712145
That also goes for this guy, here. My life is way way more fun than any of my normie friends with real jobs.

>>7712673
Don't be fooled. You pick your own hours. If you don't work hard enough, worst case is that you spend an extra year working the cushiest job ever. Don't kill yourself over it, and just do what it takes to get out.

>applying for PhD programs
>somehow got an acceptance at the end of November
>ok Uni at the state level
>no mention of funding
>no responses from over a dozen other schools
Well I feel better getting in to somewhere, even if the situation is weird.

>>7714060
since you're already in the door, are there any profs there you want to work for? try contacting them m8, never know what you might pull

>>7714062
There are, going to do that after finals. I wish they posted when their funding decisions are sent out. All I know is that they have 12 fully funded positions per year.

>>7714064
ah I forgot it's finals time, good definitely give them a little time. I think it varies by field, but sometimes grant information comes in during the spring semester. If I remember correctly, stuff like NSF awards are made in April (been on an industrial sponsorship myself the whole time)? when I was getting interviews with profs, it was around Feb-March so I imagine they had a much better idea around then about what they would have available.

what kind of program is this? the earliest acceptance I remember getting back then was right after New Years

>>7714067
This one was a small applied math program. Also notable is that it says that they only take master's students unless the applicant is "well qualified." Didn't even notice that while applying, hope they don't think I have a master's or something. Even if I am "well qualified," I don't see how they could admit me so soon when their deadline is in February.

>>7714057
>normie friends
if you use this word in real life, then you have no friends, virgin

>>7714055
Work in a similar environment here, would just like to confirm my experience has been more or less the same.

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>>7714098
Not distinguishing between PhDs and retards that ask what starting wage they can expect and study just for exams is something that normie scum do.

Plz leave Jamal

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>>7714102
What type of work do you do, if you don't mind sharing? I'm doing grad research at uni now, but am always super interested in hearing what industry folk have to say in similar fields at any level.

>>7712140
This
Read more papers OP. You can always read more papers. Now go load your samples!

Do the work, anon! Im only a humble second-year grad student, but each one of the successful PH.d candidates all told me something similar to this:

>wake up: check out Overflow and see if anyone replied to my post last night
>do problems
>eat
>more problems
>shit/piss
>more problems. Post questions about x theorem on internet/ask professor.
>sleep

>>7714266
>PhD who is still doing "problems"

What kind of pathetic programme are you enrolled in? You should only be doing research.

Thinking about doing a PhD in Machine Learning.

Yes its a meme field right now, but I have been doing side projects in it for years now, so I figure I might as well make it my main focus. I work in industry right now, but I have hundreds of pages of notes and ideas for ML projects that I just don't have time to do because of my job. Seems like I should just do it.

Are the people who whine about PhDs just whiners? or is it really a huge ball busting?

>>7712293
Thanks to the leading lights in the finance industry and the subsequent world wide financial implosion we are enjoying the shine is a bit off finance, economics and marketing these days. Germany weathered the crisis better than most and that was in part because they have a production economy where they make physical objects rather than questionable financial services that noone really should have touched with a barge pole.

A more useful ranking:

1: Experimental research: hard to complete and you will suffer a lot of technical malfunctions and likely enjoy some near fatal accidents and the traditional abject fear. I have been there, several times.

The plus side is that you are more likely to get a job than the alternatives below.

2: Theoretical research: easier to get through as a broken piece of chalk can be replaced more cheaply than a molecular beam epitaxy machine. The big plus is that you avoid dangerous chemicals, high voltage, radiation and more. You might inhale some chalk dust.

The down side is that this type of background makes it hard to get a job in industry so you are tied to academia.

3: Research by simulation: somewhere in the middle in all respects of the two extremities above.

>>7714337
If you're not interested in what you're doing, it's probably miserable tbbqh my famiglia. Imagine working a boring and frustrating grind, adding +10-20 hrs/wk onto it, and then getting paid just above breaking even and that's how it's gonna feel. That doesn't even account for if you have to deal with an abusive PI and/or have to TA and grade and deal with students' bullshit ontop of that.

On the other hand, if you totally dig what you do then it's pretty rewarding. I willingly put in 60 hrs/wk for research on average, more as appropriate if a deadline is coming up for papers or sponsors. The time flies by pretty fast when you get the opportunity and resources to pour it all into something you love with as much creativity as you can. Especially once coursework and quals and all that garbage is out of the way.

Either way you better have a career related reason for doing one or a clear destination in mind at the end before you start, or else it's a waste of time and energy. I'm sure I don't have to tell you since you're a workingman, but don't follow the example of the stereotypical aimless dipshit kid who doesn't show up to the lab until noon and is only there to avoid the real world. I've seen people half-ass their way through before and it never ever ends well.. Nobody wants to hire an expensive fuckass who can't do their job (ie. can't do research), where you go in the end depends on what you produce.

>people literally falling for the PHD meme

>>7714599
>people who say the PhD track is a meme

I'm in chemistry. My options are to go looking for a job (which I've heard first-hand are hard to come by and give you the shit work as a B.Sc.) or apply to PhD programs and pray for a job opportunity in my field when I'm out. at this point I'm just looking at PhD programs as if I'm applying to jobs that im more likely to get accepted to. this way i can
>study what I want
>making enough to ive off of
>go to a place and have experiences I have not had before
>come out of school with a higher degree and tons of experience

I'm well aware the jobs exist at the B.Sc. level, but ive been told by every grad student and professor that there is a glass ceiling in industry without a higher degree. I'd prefer to roll the dice now than look back ten years later and wonder why I didnt take the opportunity when I did.

>>7714642
>making enough to ive off of

lol

>go to a place and have experiences I have not had before

you can literally do this anywhere

>>7714656
stipend is roughly 25k most places. that's more than enough to live off of.

>>7714105
Sorry Richard

>>7714105
Bro, are you someone that goes into college at 14?

>>7714337
>Are the people who whine about PhDs just whiners?
Most people who whine didn't realize at the time how much they'd have to give up.

The average person graduates at 22. The young handsome man/nubile girl then has the choice of seeking full time employment, taking time off or staying in academia. So they think staying 2-5 more years they will get their PhD at 24-27 and starting working.

It doesn't seem like a big deal at all.

Until you realize how important those years are for building a career and becoming financially stable. It's not just about money, you will see your ex's marrying more stable guys; you are giving up your chance to have a stable family with a young and attractive women. Your youth rots away as you slowly realize no girl will want a long term relationship with you and will at best end up with the stragglers, divorcees, single moms etc. (if you're a girl your situation is much worse because of how you intimidate everyone; if you dreamed of a husband and kids forget it). Now I'm sure some of you /r9k/ wizard types are thinking >marriage, let me assure you that academia isn't some safe haven for autists either. There's "alphas and betas" like everywhere else and the charismatic extroverts dominate every department, you won't be left alone in what is literally one of the most competitive places on the planet.

You also give up traveling or any other thing that you didn't realize that you wanted. You don't get holidays, you get sent on conferences. You don't get to maintain expensive hobbies, you get to eat shitty food. Maybe you realized that you wanted to start your own business; forget it, you never made half the industry contacts people working there did.

The ONLY thing you have is your research. Do you love your research enough to give up whatever else you could have done with your youth? I did, which is the only reason I'm here.

Also no one will call you doctor.

>>7714642
>Made a bad choice studying chemistry
>MAYBE IF I STUDY CHEMISTRY AGAIN IT WILL MAGICALLY GET BETTER

Get IT certs of some other technician qualification or get a business degree if you want to climb ladders. I don't know how the fuck you can possible be this retarded.

> ive been told by every grad student and professor that there is a glass ceiling in industry without a higher degree.
The glass ceiling is for "chemists", not for B.Sc. grads. You get promoted until near management, and because you aren't qualified for technical management that's your ceiling; lab rat.

For the record chemistry salaries are that low because so many people and techs can do that job, programming jobs can help you break 6 figures. Chemistry alone will never be useful, MBA can help you climb ladders if you're smart.

>>7714170
Lots and lots of uncertainty quantification and reduced order modelling

>>7715544
German PhD here. People all the time call me "Doctor YYY". I even tell them sometimes no to call me so, without Dr. is also okay

>>7715584
Go suck Hadji dick retard. No one cares about what happens in your shitty, VW gas spewing Caliphate.

>>7715584

>ho ho ho, nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Klauss! DOCTOR Klauss! But you can just call me Klauss!
>Yes that's what I was going to call you anyway...

>>7714057
preach. I'm 1st yr and I literally go out 4 nights and week. My 'job' is to mix any of the thousands of dollars worth of chemicals in my lab and see what happens. My classes are interesting, my lab/cohort is super chill, and I go to a university w baddie undergrads struttin in yoga pants like a dick is the only thing about to get them through college. No complaints

>>7709669
pls explain this diagram to me

>>7715544
I can kind of believe this, but nonetheless, other Ph.Ds, is this description credible?

>>7715783
Yes fa.m. Very.