Before embarking on my Master's, my primary goal was to go into academia and do a PhD. But, whilst I am still very interested in that, I am doubtful about the prospects after the PhD and, at 23 years old, whether I should instead spend those 3 years gaining valuable experience, making more money and have more diverse career prospects.

A job seems to be more fitting to my personal goals (i.e. driving, moving out, dating etc.) and financial goals (i.e. increase savings, invest, start side-business etc.). I will not likely earn much on a PhD (if I even get funded at all). On the other hand, a PhD seems more fitting to my personality, need for autonomy and skills.

I think the best option would be to work for 2-5 years and then consider whether I wanted to pursue a PhD after I have achieved said goals and got industry experience.

I am keeping my options open, so I will not disregard a PhD opportunity nor a job opportunity depending on which comes first. But, PhD applications tend to take much longer to process and requires more preliminary work compared to jobs.

I just wanted to share this to hear your opinions and any experiences you have had with this.

It is exam period! It has been a very busy semester for my Computer Science conversion course and I feel I have not revised enough for one of my exams (primarily because I prioritised other difficult coursework that had sooner deadlines).

Although I feel I might get a pass at least, having looked at some questions on past papers, I am worried that my lack of understanding will not produce a sufficient result.

There is a chance that I can resit the exam in the summer (if I did fail), but what if I couldn't or if I failed that too, but successfully passed all of my other modules, coursework and the final dissertation? Will I just end up with a PG Dip?

I know. I am panicking a bit, but I am just looking for some honest, experienced feedback and/or reassurance.

Hello all,

I strongly recall the longevity of unemployment after finishing my undergraduate studies (6 months of unemployment), but I didn't really have any direction I wanted to go.

Then, I got my first job and managed to land my second job after that. I hated both jobs and was already planning on doing a master's degree in my first bout of unemployment, so was glad I started it.

I have now finished my first semester and think I did pretty well (it is a computer science conversion course). The "working gap-year", as I called this period of my life, allowed me to find a bit of direction, and I have a better idea of where I am heading with a future.

I am going to be pursuing PhD applications in the new year as well as network with employers (as a backup). But, I still get this worry and dread that I will end up back in the unemployment boat after I finish my master's course.

What ways can I avoid this or should I just be prepared to emotionally cope with this inevitability?

Regards,
FP.

I have been following this forum for awhile and appreciate the posts that I have read provided for others.

I start my Masters in Computing in September and aim to do a PhD after this. I originally come from a creative and music technology background as well with quite a strong understanding and theoretical sense of business, marketing etc.

I am working on my own business projects and managed a freelance brand for a few years. Most of my endeavours have been somewhat related to the creative industries but not just that.

This allows me to ponder that something related to business (since it will be relevant to my qualifications and experience) would be more appropriate for teaching.

I am not 100% what teaching subject to go into or maybe this is a good thing, as I should keep my options open.

Any advice, that'd be great.