[quote]Quote From bernardpar:
I know that Google has a free alternative to Office but being an extremely proficient user in Word/Excel/Access (due to work) I wonder if it makes sense to learn a new programme?

I know that Google has a free alternative to Office but being an extremely proficient user in Word/Excel/Access (due to work) I wonder if it makes sense to learn a new programme?

I did PhD in Education (Randomised Controlled Trail). I had both Chromebook and PC. Chromebook was great for data collection and quick writing. On my PC I had Stata, SPSS, R, Scrivener, Zotero and finally Citavi which is a must if you write a dissertation. You are not going to find worthy alternatives for Chromebook. In a sentence, go for PC.

You are not very specific. Therefore, it is hard to answer your question. I did my PhD on EALs (children learning English as an additional language). In other words, children with special educational needs. When I wrote my research proposal I was truly interested in the subject and I didn't think much about my career options. Now I am 4 months after my viva and I haven't found the job related to EALs (despite the fact that there are 1,000 000 children in the UK). Fortunately, my study was purely quantitative (randomised controlled trial) and I hope that my skills can be used in other sectors. Besides, I applied through my university for a grant related to EALs. My advice: Go for it if you are really interested in the topic. Be flexible. Focus ion developing transferable skills. Create job opportunities. Be positive and don't think too much about 'the career opportunities it might bring'.

I mentioned 35 months since I was so happy to finish the thesis before my funding stopped. My thesis was also changing to the very last moment. Have a look at Citavi. It greatly contributed to my success.

I am also Polish. I had started my PhD before I officially graduated with Masters. However in my case it was only formality. As far as I remember a few friends were accepted to PhD programmes and they were still working on their dissertations. I believe it depends on Uni.

You can try Evernote or OneNote. I wrote my PhD thesis using a combination of Evernote, Scrivener and Citavi. I had in my library 4000 documents. I was drowning with information and struggling for knowledge. Not only I used to forget my notes, sometimes I also read my papers twice or three times without realising it. The software solved my problems and I was able to finish my thesis in 35 months.