Category: PhD

If you are pursuing your Ph.D. or have already completed, believe it, the future is all yours. The only way that you may not climb upwards on the ladder of success or growth is that you don’t let yourself do that. Having a Ph.D. gives you the great advantage over other candidates in many of the profiles that may not even belong to the academia.

1. Ph.D.s are better than others in digging out answers: In any industry that you seek to work for, the employer is looking for a combination of 3 skill set. They being, critical thinking, complex problem solving and correct decision making. A Ph.D. scholar is a researcher who has trained himself, willingly or unwillingly to handle such situations countless number of times while doing Ph.D. While the inexpert lot is finding and struggling for solutions, an experienced researcher knows the place from which quick information can be dug out. Find a way to tell your interviewer that you possess these skills.
2. Ph.D.s are experienced to learn from failure: A Ph.D. journey teaches you good enough, that no experiment would give results in the first go. Sometimes, even the minutest of answers need to be found by multiple attempts of experiments. The agony of a Ph.D. scholars life which gives him an edge at the employments stage is that he has repeatedly failed, over and over again without much recognition, in words or monetarily. But each failure has brought your closer to your success, and that is how you as a Ph.D. are more equipped to handle failure and challenges of a job.
3. They can handle nasty Bosses: you have to thank the difficult Ph.D. supervisor here. In the long Ph.D. journey, they grill you good enough to prepare you well to deal with the most challenging of people in the future. It is surely a blessing in disguise as a scholar because when you step out to work, your skill set is equipped enough to allow you to handle almost any kind of challenging and difficult boss, anywhere that you go.
4. They know that certainty is the most uncertain thing: Ph.D. scholars thrive on uncertainty as no discovery is possible without an element of ambiguity or uncertainty associated with it. Use this at your advantage, because you will be stronger and confident at taking risks as compared to others.

Results are best when we do a task in one go. The same rule applies to academics as well, generally and according to common sense, at least this is what most people believe. However, there is always a lot that swims against the tide, always and everywhere. You may find a lot of students who desire to take a break between their post graduate degree and their doctoral studies and most of them never seem to regret it. Well, it has some advantages. Let’s look at some:

Explore new avenues: Monotony does kill the scope to know more and find out other things we may like equally or even better. When you stop by to explore what else the world has to offer to you, you may get pleasantly surprised by getting exposed to a new flavor of life you perhaps never knew that existed. Only having done wonderfully in graduation or post graduation academically should never become the sole reason for you to take up higher studies. Sometimes, taking a break and being away from the routine can help you to discover new likes and preferences which could be suppressed all the while under a mundane routine and it might end up becoming a passion for something you never had any clue about prior to trying.

Pick up professional skills: Until you essentially move out in the field, you may never learn skills needed in practical life.When you decide to take a break from academics and work professionally for a bit, you would get a chance to aplly all theories into practice. It would provide you the confidence of earning as well as knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

You get an option to choose if you don’t want to go back: as we grow and learn more about ourselves our likes, dislikes and preferences alter and modify, and we may surprise ourselves by not finding our passion in something we have been thinking all the while. Having another option in hand is always more confidence boosting

So, if you are confused about whether to give in the temptation to take a break before joining a Ph.D., go ahead!! Remember, well thought decisions are the best.

The thought of the PhD VIVA does send shivers down our spine, however all PhD candidates have no choice but to face it up front. If you have some clue about what to do and what not to do it can surely help to ease up your fears so that rather than being a challenging and fearful experience, you enjoy a viva and it becomes a showcase to exhibit your skills and learnings. There are few things you must surely not do in a viva. They are:
1.Do not be very quick to answer your questions, rather take some time to introspect and refer to the relevant part of the thesis if necessary to be prepared as thoroughly as possible
2.Never answer a question that you do not know the answer to. It is always better to not answer or ask for a clarification rather give a response that puts you in a picture of being an ignorant in the eyes of the examiner
3.Even if you know content that is more than what is asked in the question, do not go overboard in answering. You must restrain your answer to precisely what is asked in the question
4.There is a possibility and it is normal to go completely “blank” in your viva. Think of some strategies you could adopt to face a situation like this if it arises, refer to your thesis in the copy you are carrying or you could even ask the examiner to rephrase the question if needed.
5.Under all circumstances, be sure of not bluffing your examiners. It is always better and more of an advantage to admit than to try and bluff. Know that your research has its own set of limitations and it is better to admit those limitations so that you get an opportunity to discuss further research scope.

Some preparation, some practice and lots of confidence in your ability and research are the ingredients that can help you to be able to sail through this last stage of your PhD journey more easily. Research is tough and you put your heart and soul into it, so now also do not let some goof up in the end mess up or dilute the success that you have achieved throughout the long journey. Give your PhD viva with your best food forward.

A lot of PhD students get lured into PhD programmes only because it appears to them as a very interesting and appealing field which they see many in their social circle and they feel that having a doctor degree would give them plenty of employment opportunities in both academics as well as industry.

Often to lure students into a PhD programme coordinators and universities may tempt them by saying that there would be up teen employment opportunities available for them and how there package would at the least, double up by the time they complete their thesis. You may even here a lot if examples related to this often. However, even if you want to believe this or even if the statistics may be true, know that it would take at least 5 to 6 years for your PhD to complete you programme and the similar market analysis may not be applicable then and your industry may have altogether different demands or requirements which may not line up with your PhD.

In addition, if you see statistics with people climbing up the ladder of success after completing PhD, you may also find statistics about people who quit their PhD midway but still end up getting phenomenal success and start earning good even at the time you are busy completing your dissertation to be able to earn well in the future.

The gist of the matter and discussion here is never enrol into s PhD programme because you think it is a hot topic now, you never know how “hot” it would remain in the future by the time you have completed it.

So don’t go into a field just because it is hot right now. It may be very cold in a few years from now.
Every industry, topic and field if study has a life cycle like all other things. The wise scholars are those who jump into a particular research when they feel that it is still at a nascent stage and they can predict and foresee it becoming a more relevant and hot topic in the times to come. Whatever contribution they make in this area remains to be novel and innovative. So they become the ones who exploit the opportunity as compared to those who enter late.
Success though is a contribution of luck and insight but being proactive is very important and you must only enter into a tough and challenging PhD programme when you feel that you have enough time in this field to show your mettle and use the degree to your materialistic and intellectual intellect.