We are in a recession now, so basically it would seem planning the PhD and the career is in itself almost a thesis or computational strategy project.

Im interested in the stories here of the strategies employed by people who have made a good transition from PhD to the kind of work they specifically wanted to do, and not those who just did the PhD without such planning and just did well anyway.

Just how in depth did you go to scope out the future territory, and did you base your PhD plan to a large degree on where you thought the work action was going to be after you completed ? basically you have to try and make up to 5 year prediction of whats going to happen in the world the time you finish right ?

I presume this involved making realistic assessments of yourself, the kind of things you know you cannot do, and cannot do well, and the situations ?

Networking well in advance to predict the future etc ? Or What other lengths did you go to ? Perhaps making flowcharts and maps of all kinds of outcomes, with variables that could be altered with market conditions, Plan A,B,C,D etc ?

going of track somewhat getting into garages, but its to illustrate a point. The fact is the nerd brain is good at cutting through a lot of data very quickly.

We also tend to overload our lives with interests so its vital that what should be simple problems are dealt with quickly. I dont want to have to go to my garage 4 times (amounts to about 8 hours AND stress) for a simple problem when im in the middle of complex research. So i take an hour or two out and do their job for them in advance.

a more everyday example is me the nerd taking my car to the local garage. Now being a nerd, i bought the workshop manuals, and know every part of it inside out, but i dont have ramps, tools, time and garage facilities to do the job. Often requires two people anyway.

Before i even take it to the garage ive looked up all the various replacement part types, their quality level, common fitting and misdiagnosis errors. Ive done half their job for them, precisely so i dont have to keep going back.

The mechanics disparage me as "the boffin". I can tell the information is going in one ear and out the other with them. So i get shirty and threaten various consumer actions if they dont do the job to the correct standard, and save me multiple visits.

Then they listen, then they do the job right.

have you considered this may actually be a test of your integrity ?

anyway even if its not and you go along you are finished from all angles, and this person will know that.

Clearly this person has you pegged psychologically to some degree just to ask that. Either that or they are completely stupid and inexperienced. I have been in a similar situation myself. However i got into a series of arguments with my so called mentor, which escalated until we were almost physically going to fight each other. Gaining Prestige and career pressure can really corrupt some otherwise nice people to do stuff like this.

One day I realized it was not going to get better. I emptied my belongings from the workplace, then walked out the job one day with no notice and never returned. I had plenty of proof collected if they decided to try and pin the blame on me. Make sure you do the same. Get notes, signed documents, emails, or better still make recordings of conversations.

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This is something it appears we are taught very little about in university. Its almost like the text books tell us a fantasy, about the aspie type heroes of science fighting against adversity, and if we do everything the way they did, i.e. persist with ultra science and rationality repeatedly and strategically everything will be alright.

Back to reality as nerds we are not so socially astute and just get run over in the real world by people with lesser academic brains, but instinctively fast social perceptions.

i.e. In social situations the nerd brain may have a 100-300ms latency in making replies or displaying attentional responses to facial stimulus, and that is enough in the competitive world for others to perceive you as “not there” and “easy meat”. From there on you have are on a slippery slope and I found the only thing you can do from there is ramp up your adrenaline levels and assert dominance in a very confrontational manner, that’s akin to being in state where you are basically holding back from whacking somebody physically. This makes it be very clear you too have perceived that person/crowd perception of your disability (albeit it took 300ms longer..gads what a crime !) but you are as a result now going to make damn sure you keep an extra eye on them from that time on

i.e. Basically if you are a nerd and want to cut it, in a world of normals really the only way to do it is be a complete *******. The fact is for the most part its dog eat dog out there, unless you just happen to be one in a thousand who can be a john nash, carl sagan etc etc. where all of a sudden everybody overlooks your eccentricities and you are a beautiful and unique flower.

Yeh right !