Hi waitinggame,

Why are you worrying so much when you haven't even started yet? A PhD is three years for a reason and most students feel the same as you when they start their PhD. So please don't feel like an impostor because it sounds like you are setting yourself impossible standards before you have even started. I would consider looking at your PhD student handbook (it should be online) and look at what you are expected to do in the first three years. Probably in the next 3-6 months all what is expected of you is to have research plan and maybe a small literature review. If you can do that, you are completely fine and not stupid.

I agree with Nead it depends on your field and funding. If you win your own grants, departments will welcome you with ease. I also have a friend who is half way through a two year post-doc working remotely but her work is in computer modelling. Her university is a 5 hour drive away and was only expected on site twice a year for various things. Other than that all of her work can be done from home and the university is happy with that. It was an advertised role but I don't see why not if you can justify working remotely.

Hi pary,

I am sorry to hear about your situation. From the sounds of it you have made the right decision to leave such a toxic environment. To answer your question, yes you should be able to easily Master out. I would talk with your graduate department or your student handbook on the procedure and see what you have. Generally it is pretty straight forward as long as you have some data at least with a semi-decent write up. Although I would consider your financial situation before deciding when to leave. There is nothing immoral continuing with the PhD as long as possible simply for the money while you apply for jobs or decide what to do. It is easier to move on from your PhD when you still have a monthly stipend.

Done.
Your research looks interesting but I would add that I choose airlines for the route/airport. Lowcost airlines sometimes have a bigger range of flights to smaller airports compared to the full service carriers. So having a direct flight between two small airports is a massive effect on my choice that I couldn't mention in the survey.

Sorry about the delay, I have actually did some work once.
So they are making your work for free for a month? That doesn't sound good long term but if you can make it bearable in the short term at least the money always helps. I understand negativity can permeate from your job to the rest of your life but if you can establish ways to separate them it is an incredible skill for your future careers. I think once you stop caring and I mean genuinely stop caring, things get easier. As in the UK at least the education system is all about being "your best" at all times which we carry over into the real world when in fact we jut need to do enough. I am not saying have no pride in your work but find inner validation instead of relying on your boss.

I am still a PhD student in engineering, although I did suspend my PhD for nearly a year to work as an RA for my supervisor on externally funded projects.

hi dotdottung,

I am sorry to hear about your situation. No one deserves to be made to feel uncomfortable at work and I think you are right to plan to leave. Though have you considered talking with your director about the issues or with colleagues on how they manage? Sometimes there are easy solutions if you talk with someone. Saying that, can you afford to quit straight away or do you need to continue in the short term for the money?

Congratulations on the new job!
In the context of a cynical PhD student, do what makes you happy. Everyone is different and we derive happiness from different sources. So I wouldn't worry if it is worth the effort to get the job you want as long as you think it is worth it.

To be honest I sort of like what I do. I am not that passionate about my day-to-day work per se but I get a warm fuzzy feeling about my field and working towards a low carbon economy. I am a rather lazy person but knowing my work might help save the planet (however minuscule) motivates me far more than enjoying my work. As long as the day-to-day work isn't too difficult I am happy to get pleasure from my social life and treat my work as a job. I think it would be different if I was working on something that had zero impact or was more stressful.

Saying that, I did a placement year as part of undergraduate course and I enjoyed the work but hated my boss by the end of it. My boss was a nice guy and we got on well but his management style drove me nuts (everything was a priority) to the extent I turned down a full-time job there because of him. The work itself was very interesting and I was definitely passionate about the job, however my manager eventually killed my motivation because he never knew when to end a project. I could work on something on the side for a couple of months to the point there was negligible returns but he would still expect constant progress on it while still starting new projects. At that point I realised having a good manager was just as important as the job itself.

I find my PhD labwork rather boring and monotonous although my supervisor seems to value it. I can help other PhD students/lecturers and they appreciate my work which is a massive positive. Is it my dream job, not really, but a good work atmosphere can compensate for a lot of things.

Why do you ask, are things going okay?

EDIT: 1000th post!

I should have added that you can contact the admissions team to ask for an update. Usually they are helpful and can tell you what is going on.

Hi anne_with_an_e,

Congragulations on submitting your corrections! It must be such a relief.
I don't want to be rude but you PASSED your viva with major corrections. Major corrections is not a failure. Revise and resubmit is a failure. Plenty of students who have received majors have went on to have successful careers because at the end, all PhDs are equal. No one cares if you got major corrections or typos, they are both passes. The fact that you have gotten so far despite your significant obstacles is probably more of an achievement than someone who coasted through. I know, it is easy to compare yourself with your peers and base your self worth of that, but in reality passing the viva is the only thing that matters, and you passed it. Also, your resubmission will mostly likely be accepted and then you can move on with your life. I am trying hard not to be rude but you sound so despondent about a situation that is actually positive. You are nearly there so don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! Look at this as the successful ending to a difficult chapter in your life and a new beginning to the next.

I can't give you much advice about the job hunt as I am behind you in the process. So I can only wish you goodluck.

If you want to do a masters do a masters. I wouldn't overthink it too much because you are just opening yourself to self-doubt. It is only a year and you don't lose much by trying. Your masters course is independent of your bachelors and as waitinggame says you can improve at the higher levels. It will take a lot of work and commitment but you will get out what you put in.

Also, I would add that depending on the masters course, a lot of the credits are based on your dissertation/project work. Which, you usually have some flexibility with to avoid topics you are less confident with. So if you think you can excel there you can compensate for low grades elsewhere.

How many publications do you already have?

While your current university doesn't offer it but other universities offer short 1 year PhD by prior-publications for external candidates, such as Kingston below. So you wouldn't have to move job or commit for a 6-8 year period. If you already have a few publications I would contact the admin team to double check your eligibility and work from there. Having publications makes the whole process easier and having them before you start is even better. If anything, you need a narrative to connect the publications together.

Goodluck!

https://www.kingston.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/available-degrees/phd-by-prior-publication-portfolio/

Honestly, I have no idea if it is possible but I completely admire you. Have you considered taking a stepping stone via science communication/outreach? They always struck me as hybrid jobs between science and humanities that you might be qualified for while allowing you to build some good experience for a humanities career.

About a week after my interview, I got a call from my supervisor saying I had the PhD but it took over a month after that before I received an official offer. So 3 weeks isn't too unusual.

Hi Blue Elephant,

That is a narrow title! I do not envy you but I agree with ZH0224. Focus on the project as a whole and not what you are missing. A good structure that I recommend is to break the project down into stages such as; brief literature review, experimental plan, objective 1 with methodology A, objective 2, etc, data analysis, how this will affect the field. It not only gives your presentation a structure but hows that you can break down a big project into smaller chunks. You do not need to be super detailed, just discuss a few papers (and cite them), what you think is achievable for each objective and any potential risks. You might not know all the experimental techniques but it is easier to teach someone experimental methods than how to do research. Even if you don't how to do the methodologies, you can say that you will follow X protocol in Y paper and hope they don't ask to many questions.

Also, I wouldn't throw out all previous experience as non-relevant. I worked in a recycling plant before my PhD and gained a fantastic knowledge of sampling errors. It wasn't relevant to my PhD but I mentioned sampling issues anyway and instead of getting asked questions on the methods I didn't know they asked about my weird sampling method. Just be creative and you might be able to fit in your previous experience somewhere.