Signup date: 25 Jan 2014 at 9:59am
Last login: 19 Sep 2017 at 7:50am
Post count: 820
My supervisors are very supportive and positive, give feedback quickly (and they seem to go through everything in detail and spot tiny things), plus they are approachable when I need to talk or can't do something. I don't feel worried about going to them with stuff because they are not authoritarian and will try to help me find a way round things. Hope things are ok with you, Hugh.
I find clear days off so important (and I say that as someone at the end of my funding who needs to move on to paid work soon!). As Mattfabb says, it's not productive to keep pushing it when you're drained - I am trying to be better at knowing the difference between my productive days and my 'blood from a stone' ones.
Mine isn't online, but then I am not a very 'online' person as far as my personal information goes, and like you I have reservations about posting things at an early stage. It would be interesting to hear the experiences of people who have put theirs online, though!
My supervisors are lovely and supportive and positive - I cannot fault them, especially as they took over when my original lead supervisor left, and it had not been on the cards for them to supervise me. Glad you've managed to get some info on yours upfront, yirara!
Hi Trilla, glad it's not just me! I always thought management was 'not for me' and that I could somehow work my way into a position in which I was seen as a 'professional'; however, that has never happened and now I am thinking that the only way is to go for the senior positions to prevent that feeling you have when you're being micro-managed or subjected to poor decisions. I too want to work in a collaborative way. It is refreshing to hear of someone who has gone into management and found a better way of doing it :-)
To be honest, all my working life I've found myself subordinate to managers who had fewer qualifications for the job than I did, so it is a refreshing change to be supervised by experts, no matter their age! I guess it all depends on the individual and what previous experience they've had. I have also found, as Yve says, that I am much less nervous about broaching things with my supervisors than I would have been in my 20s.
I am in my 40s and doing a PhD. At the time of starting it, I had a job but it was not a huge loss giving it up, as it did not have good terms/salary and besides, I had always wanted to do a PhD. As you say, nothing is guaranteed at the end of the PhD, but I think if it's something you want to do and you can handle not knowing what will happen at the end of it, don't let your age hold you back.
Is there any way to get someone who does use your methods to cast an eye over even part of your work before the submission date? The reason I am suggesting this is that I am using methods my supervisors haven't used, and I've been able to link up with a group of people who do this type of research and have had some discussions/got some feedback this way. I'm just wondering if this would help reassure your supervisors. The other thing would be to try submitting a paper if time permits, and get comments.
PostgraduateForum Is a trading name of FindAUniversity Ltd
FindAUniversity Ltd, 77 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK. Tel +44 (0) 114 268 4940 Fax: +44 (0) 114 268 5766
An active and supportive community.
Support and advice from your peers.
Your postgraduate questions answered.
Use your experience to help others.
Enter your email address below to get started with your forum account
Enter your username below to login to your account
An email has been sent to your email account along with instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not recieve your email, or have any futher problems accessing your account, then please contact our customer support.
or continue as guest
To ensure all features on our website work properly, your computer, tablet or mobile needs to accept cookies. Our cookies don’t store your personal information, but provide us with anonymous information about use of the website and help us recognise you so we can offer you services more relevant to you. For more information please read our privacy policy
Agree Agree