How many days a week are you in, and do you have your own office/workspace?
Typically 3/4 days a week in the office then working at home the rest of the week. I have a desk in a shared office of approx 20 people.
Any particular reason for the query?
I aim to be in at least 4 days per week but work an average of one day a week to earn money. However I'm always thinking about my PhD so am never really not working on it, I carry it around like a tortoise carries it's house on it's back. I have a desk in an open plan office. I love my desk, it is my place of work. I save money on heating, phone, printing, electric light etc by using this desk. On the weekend I do lighter reading for my research swinging in a hammock or chilling on the sofa depending on the weather.
5 days a week. In at between 8 and 9, gone at between 5 and 6. I have my own desk in an open plan office, which is happily a very quiet office. Because others seem to not be too bothered about coming in I'm often on my own or with just one other at the end of the room till about 10 or so.
Having said all this, I'm an RA doing a PhD at the same time so I kind of have to be in. To be honest I'd be in this much (and these hours) anyway. When I go home there is no work there and no way to get sucked into it. I think this comes from having worked in industry before (where it was impossible to work at home) and I think it really helps maintain a decent work/life balance.
I have a desk in an open space office which can house 16 people but currently only houses about 5/6, so I'm not complaining. I come in 5 days/week between 7.45 and 8.15 and leave around 19:00. I try to come in every Saturday as wel, normally 10:00 to 16:00 or so, because I hold a GTA position and need some extra time to catch up on admin and stuff, which I otherwise would have to do at home.
During periods of labwork my working hours are obviously dependent on the labwork.
Hey! I share an office with two other people on the same team as me, which works really well. I tend to come in between 9am-6pm on weekdays and sometimes come in at the weekend as well. I don't work very well from home even though I have a separate study- I like being in my office and having all my things around me! KB
It's funny that this topic has come up now. I have just vacated my office of 3 and a half years this week. Crap little four person office with dodgy A/C and secondary light, but it's still very odd not going in there. I have been working in there pretty much full time any time I am not in the lab for more than three years.
I am now in what they call the hotdesking room, but which is more commonly known as 'the hole'. Grim grim grim grim.
Oooh, you all seem to be in really small offices!
Mine is a huge open plan office with seating for 90-odd PhD students in a hotdesking arrangement plus another 25-30 RAs/post-docs who have their own permanent desks. The hotdesking isn't usually too bad - the desks are mostly in clusters of 8 and most people generally stay in the same cluster each day even if not the exact same desk. People who are in every day complain about it though, because you have to pack everything away into a lockable drawer at the end of each day. But there's 90-odd desks and 120 PhD students, so people can't leave stuff out. It's very rare for people not to be able to find a seat at all, though it does happen occasionally.
I usually come into the office two days a week, plus any extra days when I have meetings or seminars or whatever. The rest of the time I work from home, as I don't live in the same town as my university (it's an hour door to door so not too bad, but may as well save time and money by staying at home!)
I'm in an office with about twenty other PhDs. Next door is another office with about another twenty desks, although lots of those are hot-desks for part-time PhDs. (Full-time PhDs get their own desks, part-times don't.) I go in most days, probably about four days a week on average. I can only get certain kinds of work done there - writing is better than reading, for me, in that environment. If I'm reading, I go to the coffee bar, the library or stay at home.
I'm transferring universities soon, and I hear that my dept at the new place has larger work rooms. Should be interesting to meet people from other disciplines, at least!
- Naomi
To put a different (and possibly not helpful) angle, I am a PT distance PhD student so I visit my Uni about once each three months. More if there a course that I want to attend.
I have my own desk with all my stuff round me which is good - but I think I miss not being around others doing similar things :-(
I work full time but am doing 15 hrs per week of good PhD stuff with fluffing about for another 5 hrs I guess.
I don't have a set working pattern at all and work at home whenever i can. I really need to change it to be honest cos i find myself working lots of evenings and weekends and getting up late. I try to make sure i show my face for at least 1 full day a week so they know i'm alive and obviously i go into uni if i have meetings or teaching duties.
I share a 6 desk office with 4 people. I suspect if 2 of the students in my office weren't around i'd go in more often. We get on alright, but disagree on the definition of a comfortable working environment. We tend to disagree on how much light is needed (i like to be able to see, they would prefer to sit in the dark) and how ventilated it should be in summer (again, i like a nice breeze when it's boiling, while they'd like to, well, boil).
But also, i like to have music playing when i'm working and if i'm in the office this obviously has to be through headphones but at home i can use my awesome speaker system. The final thing is, if i'm in the office people ask me to do things (anna can you just mark this, anna can you just give these people a tour, anna could you help me do XX). I'm not too good at saying no to these things so when i'm really busy it's best to work at home.
It's entirely personal preference. Many different working styles. I know someone who swears he can only write if he's sat in a starbucks!
I usually work 4 days a week for 8hrs in my lab that I share with 5 lovely fellow students and one day I work from home. I think its the quality of time rather than the quantity that gets the best work done. It all depends on personal preferences and suitability. I know of my friends who stay in home just for sleep and shower and spend rest of their lives in the lab working on their phd.
Not enough and Not anymore!
With the agreement of my supervisor I work 3 days a week at my desk (though this has just been cleared away and the PGRs scattered to the four winds so I am in the teaching room) and try to make up the other two days by weekend working. WIth a young family I don;t have th luxury of more time - but as my baby grows up I will get more time as i get further into the PhD. Not sure I've achieved much in 3 months:-(
"like a tortoise carries its house" what a lovely image :-)
I have just started my PhD this week and hoping to find out today just how much I am
expected to be in. I have a 3 hour commute each day, so would rather invest that time
in working at home rather than burning fuel.
Its been really useful to read all your posts though, so thanks everyone.
R
