How many PhDs does the world need? Doctoral graduates vastly outnumber jobs in academia
(www.nature.com)
from technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com to world@lemmy.world on 26 Jun 04:22
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/47628487
from technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com to world@lemmy.world on 26 Jun 04:22
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/47628487
PhD programmes need to better prepare students for careers outside universities, researchers warn.
Archive: archive.is/f1YtL
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if you can’t do a job after getting a PhD then explain how a person without one can?
It does sound paradoxal at first but is actually quite logical. The person without a PHD enters the corporate market at a younger age with a lesser degree. He has an easier access because he can get paid less and is more accepting of more menial tasks. PHD candidates are older, expect higher salaries due to their higher education, but actually have less corporate experience. That’s why the article is calling for a better preparation to work outside of academia jobs
“we just want someone who will take abuse for low pay.” - employers
The working world is very different from the laid back, very slow moving world of Academia.
Someone who has worked 8 years instead of studying has more experience and is therefore more valuable as a worker than someone with no experience even if they have a lot of knowledge and a piece of paper that proves it.
i wished that corporate was moving faster than academia, but its actually even slower and more conservative, spend 5 years getting a project to be finally put on the road-map, start working on-it for 2 years, get it descoped and postponed 2 years latter, then suddently have some manager panicking because we can’t meet our contractual commitment This is what I’ve been telling for years and why I was hired, go for a quick and dirty plan-B to have some QA telling you they can’t approve the release.
You can do a lot of critic to academia, but it’s way faster and more efficient than private corporation
There are companies, big companies even, that kill off underperforming projects after less than a year, and most don’t take years to agree projects.
What kind of Academia are you talking about? You publish or perish, write grants to get projects funded, deliver (questionable) results in unreasonable deadlines or you’re out of a grant and therefore on the streets from one day to the next.
Then there’s the usual practice that almost all jobs except for the professor’s are temporary positions and if the project doesn’t get funded, you don’t get the desired results (see above) or you clash with someone in the administration that don’t like you, you’re out of a job when your contract is up for extension. And even if you do a good job, getting a new contract is never a given, therefore stringing temporary contracts together is horrible for your mental health.
When I finally switched from academia to industry because of all that bullshit my new colleagues had to remind me that I no longer have to adhere to these standards, have a permanent position and can relax without working unreasonable hours or unpaid overtime.
A PhD is a highly specialized thing, much like how a Masters is fairly specialized. Only a BA/BS is something that is supposed to be relatively universal. If someone has a BS in accounting that is pretty applicable anywhere accounting is needed. If someone has a masters in accounting specializing in taxes or something, then theyre useful to places that need an expert in tax accounting. If someone has a PhD in some specific field of accounting then theyre useful to universities with accounting programs who are trying to crank out accountants at the B/M level, of which there are only so many slots. A PhD doesnt mean someone has more general knowledge, it means they have a ton of very very specific knowledge
Technically that PhD holder would also be useful as an accountant anywhere, but being an accountant just anywhere probably isnt going to pay for that Masters or PhD. So if one decent spot will open in academia this year, but 10 people graduate with PhD’s this year, obviously they cant all have that one spot.
Im not into accounting, so idk how much sense that explanation will make to an actual accountant. But you could change accounting for literally anything and that is basically the problem in a nutshell. Plus many people get PhDs in subjects that dont have such a wide job market at the entry level. If you get a history PhD and dont get an academic slot then you are basically fucked. Being a museum docent or a highschool history teacher isnt gonna pay for that PhD. This is why a lot of my professors in community college back in the day taught as adjuncts at like 3-4 colleges at the same time
That’s all swell but you know what?
It isn’t about what the world needs.
If you have the desire, ability and opportunity to get a PhD in accounting then that’s what you should do.
Everything else is equivalent to someone telling you that, “the world needs ditch diggers, too.”.
Fuck people like that. Let them forgo their passion in life, not you.
OP didn’t touch on a major issue for PhD holders: over qualification. I’m a good example, even not having earned a degree. Can’t get a low-level IT job because my experience is too much. Nobody wants to hire somebody that’s able and likely to jump ship at the first opportunity.
Who is making you put it on your CV?
PhD overproduction (and subsequently devaluation) is a real thing. The intention of PhDs was to reward and recognize major original contributions to a specific field of science. It turned into another academic “level” that you have to grind towards by producing a large quantity of articles. Even before AI the academic slop was a real thing.
I’m getting a PhD because I like to learn and I want to learn all I can about the physical phenomena around me - I would hope we could start thinking of higher education as more than just job training.