The Shadow of the Ph.D.

I recently had a long conversation with a colleague of mine regarding life after a PhD. It is interesting to see how your classmates progress after finishing the grueling free-form haul of graduate school. At first pass, you could categorize the career choices of most of your colleagues as follows:

1. They went to industry

2. They went to academia

3. They went back for more schooling (MBA, MD…)

4. They started a family

However, this superficial categorization focuses on a snapshot of an individual at one point in their career.  It neglects the more interesting trends that emerge when you begin to compare people’s behavior over time. While a multitude of patterns can arise from this analysis, there is one trajectory in particular that my colleague and I identified and found most interesting. We have termed this phenomenon being stuck in “The Shadow of the Ph.D.”.

Individuals struggling under The Shadow still seem blurred by their Ph.D. experience and have trouble establishing a course for their professional life following the completion of their doctorate. While these individuals may be productive in whatever role they find themselves in, they seem to be lacking an overall guiding light, and thus are easily lead astray.

A former colleague of mine, who to this day still is dwarfed by The Shadow, has hopped around from industrial institutions to academic institutions and still has not found their niche. Although this could be viewed as “expanding one’s professional tool kit”, the nomadic career path is not without consequences.  In fact, the lack of professional focus in this individual has resulted in an increasingly depressed and negative mentality, which has in turn affected their ability to interact productively in a collaborative setting.

The good news is, The Shadow doesn’t have to fall on you.  To offer some advice a mentor of mine gave me in the past:

1. Know where you have been
2. Know where you are
3. Know where you want to go

This may sound like common sense but taking a step back to focus on the bigger picture has helped many scientists, myself included, organize their professional lives.  This little mantra forces us to evaluate our previous life experiences, our goals and our readiness for the upcoming challenges we will face. For those about to complete a Ph.D., it also helps as a screen to identify the jobs that will be most fulfilling to you.

Often times in grad school it may seem like the sun will never come out.  But when it does, just be sure not to get stuck in The Shadow!

Good luck!

Tim

Tim Maguire is currently pursing his passion for scientific gab, contributing to numerous scientific blogs. He is also engaged in setting up social network sites and integrative communities for both non-profit organizations as well as universities. In his day job, Tim is pursuing in vitro microfluidic systems incorporating human hepatocytes for toxicology and drug metabolism studies. You can find additional writings and commentary from Tim on his blog at ScienceUnveiled.