scg - STEM career generalPostdoc outcomes editionPrevious Thread: >>16347256This thread exists to ask questions regarding careers associated to STEM.>Discussion on academia-based career progression>Discussion on penetrating industry from academia>Or anything in relation to STEM employment or development within STEM academia!Resources for protecting yourself from academic marxists:>https://www.thefire.org/ (US)>https://www.jccf.ca/ (Canada)Information resource:>https://sciencecareergeneral.neocities.org/>*The Chad author is seeking additional input to diversify the content into containing all STEM fields. Said author regularly views these /scg/ threads.No anons have answered your question? Perhaps try posting it here:>https://academia.stackexchange.com/An archive of some of the previous editions of /scg/:>https://warosu.org/sci/thread/15740454
>>16365289I'm getting interviewd for an amazing PhD position in bioinformatics next week. It's one of the best projects in my region and I also have another interview coming up after it, also for an amazing project. WE ARE GONNA MAKE IT BROS.
>>16365564I thought the same myself 3 years ago...
>>16365607What happened?
>>16365610Presumably xe got the PhD and then ended up unemployed/making McWagie money.t. not that guy but PhD making McWagie money
Why the fuck do people keep getting PhDs? There are already too
>>16365626PhD in what? My goal is to become a staff scientist at a research institute. Any tips?
>>16365564I thought the exact same, let's see if it works out.Quitting my 80k a year IT job to pursue it.
>>16365631just keep thinking you're happily changing the world and you'll make it
>>16365711>Quitting my 80k a year IT job to pursue it.Good luck nigger. You gonna need it.
>>16365627For midwits its ambition, for the smart ones it is lack of ambition
>>16365711Good luck>>16365713I don't want to be naive but I also need some level optimism. Perhaps being slightly delusional is the winning mindset.
Was this anon right? I thought the requirements varied by state but I've never heard that you no longer needed experience. Big if true
>>16365784what does registering as an engineer even do?what's the point?
>>16366010No shit Sherlock.Talk normal fag.Yayaya I am now building...
>>16366010It allows you to legally stamp certain documents, essentially you approve them and take on the liability if anything goes wrong. To get to this, you have to take a test and apprentice, but it is a path for people to get guaranteed decent-paying work in light of the fact that so many of the existing people are aging out of the work force.
>>16366023I had no idea engineers could get guaranteed work because I know too many unemployed engineers
>>16366050This is isn't a BS-only sort of thing, nor is it a master's or something. It's something else entirely. While positions that really need FE are not typically the sexiest, they do still basically guarantee a job if you can swing it.
>>16365627I have nothing else to do with my life and am l already financially set by virtue of the family I was born into. If I was not a messed up person, I would not have tried to do one and would probably have just done BS while having the full normal college experience, perhaps some 4+1 program at a prestigious school, gone into industry while maintaining relationships and been done with it. But I'm not normal, so only friends who live on the other side of the country and a PhD it is.
>>16365784You still need the XP, but they no longer require you to wait 4 years to take the PE exam. Passing both shows your ready to get licensed out the box.
>>16366010All kinds of shit. You are legally recognized by the state as an expert. Anything that gets built that isn’t single story residential? That’s a stampin’. Forensic engineering documents for court cases? That’s a stampin’. Pressure vessels? That’s a stampin’. Even if you don’t stamp anything, companies will hire you because that means you can then “master” for junior engineers seeking their PE license.
>>16366192Yeah, I was like that too. Just make sure that you like up something on the other side.
>wake up at the crack of 8:30>coffee and breakfast as I dial into my first teams meeting at 9:00>oh the IFC drawing set is ready for my review, neat>fire up bluebeam>couple mark ups, some keynotes are missing and they forgot to put material types on some of the piping. No biggie>kick it back to the drafters>watch a movie and eat lunch while I wait for them to make corrections>bing! >we picked up all your comments anon! Can we get this stamped and out to the customer today?!>everything looks good>stamp, stamp, stamp>double copies for my own records>take my last teams meeting at my local dive bar while I sip a pint>time card time, full 10 hours because I’m being billed out at 50 a week lolAhhhh, what a life
I wish I could redo my life.
How difficult is it to get some government job with a physics PhD and how bad is the pay? I just want something low stress that will pay for a house, kids, and a little bit of travel.
>>16365627That is how you learn research and also study a niche in depth. It is also better to do anoither 4 - 5 years diong a PhD then to be unemploed, leaving a gaping hole in your CV.
>>16366540Me too but I think I'm going to start meditation or something. My attachment to my own idea of how things "should" have turned out has been a great cause of suffering in my life.>>16365610I left a highly remunerated and easy job to do a PhD which so far has been fairly thankless and caused a huge resurgence of anxiety in my life. But it couldn't have been any other way, I was not amenable to reason when I was trying to get onto a PhD, I felt like my inability to spin my academic success into a "prestigious" PhD position reflected as some kind of failure on me. I should have been taking proactive and courageous steps to becoming more like myself and less like the idea I had of myself in my head.The mind is so complex when you're based - lil b
>>16366606>courageous steps to becoming more like myself and less like the idea I had of myself in my head.Are you happy where you are now? I'm going for a PhD this winter semester. It's the only thing I'm looking forward too. From what I've gathered from anons they mostly have troubles in gradschool due to unresolved personal issues like you mentioned. I hope that I don't discover some of mine.
>>16366554The trick to government jobs is taking literally any GS position you can get and then lateraling after a year. Most government positions are only available to current government workers. Retarded, but it’s the government. GS pay isn’t bad. Isn’t great either. With a PhD you’ll cap out at GS 15 at probably $140k but don’t expect to hit that for at least 5-8 years. You’ll probably start out at 12 which is like $90k
>>16366540I think a very large percentage of people do. At least you did not end up addicted to substances.
>>16366874I’d do a few things different by general trajectory would’ve remained the same
>>16366906Personally, I feel like if I could have made just one change everything would have turned out better. The whole not-even-once things might be cope though and I would have just done it later anyway.
WFH is turning me into an alcoholic. I have all my work done by noon and I’m crushing a box of wine at 3pm for my close out teams meeting. I legit need to go back to the office. Send help.
>>16366874I was an alcoholic for a little while but I somehow was able to quit thankfully.
I have a relative who is entering middle school whose parents want to get him into a magnet high school and more importantly a high-ranking STEM uni afterwards. They've asked me for advice since I have a similar background.For math/CS, my sense is that the best thing to do is to train and perform very well in one of USAMO/USACO/ISEF---I'm not really sure what the best way to train a child so they can do well in one of these things is though. They tried putting him in an AOPS class (for competitive math) but he just sat in the back, didn't ask or answer many questions, and didn't do very well. What should the game plan be?
>>16367348Show him that he can actually do cool and interesting things with the knowledge he would gain
>>16367329I am the guy who posts here all the time about being an ex-drug addict. I am now doing a PhD. I just cope by telling myself that it could be much worse and I could have never quit and actually died, but it also could have been much better if I had never gotten addicted, you know.>>16367348Address exactly those things should help and not having that attitude will serve him much more than actually getting into those right now. That has to be addressed first. I would recommend tackling it head on without getting mad at him, just guilt trip him with how bad HIS life will be otherwise or something and tell him you understand constantly. There is a right way to manipulate people into thinking your guilt trip was really their idea. Manipulation is key here and they clearly know what is best for him far better than he does (as is to be expected in 6th grade).
