I'm not sure if anyone else has gone through something similar, but I'm interested to find and also feel like I should warn others about the "co-supervisor" trick played on naive undergraduates.

Basically, I came from a pretty unstable background so needed some security that I'd have some sort of income after graduating with a first class degree in a hard science discipline. I got an offer from one of the top 10 UK universities (based on THE rankings) which seemed to be related to a topic of interest. One matter of concern was I had a primary supervisor (a professor) and a secondary (a part time industry/academic) .

Unfortunately the initially "keen" professor rapidly lost interest in my work and I was left working with the part timer who was rarely on campus, on a topic that was not really what I was looking for. Probably at this point I should have seen the warning signs, quit and looked for something different, but eventually I finished it anyway.

Now there are not really any opportunities to move forward into something I am interested in, since I have no publications. I lack the motivation to publish because the direction of my thesis was dictated by industry and not really something I was particularly enthusiastic about.

So, it looks like the only option is taking on a job which is intellectually unsatisfying and forgetting about working at a university altogether. It is very unclear where to go from here being over 30 without any transferable skills. Lesson learned is, be careful of rushing into anything which takes a long time to do, and do not allow for uncertainty as to who your supervisor might be. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I am sorry to hear your experience was not as you hoped. Nonetheless, congratulations on completing your PhD.

Your account does raise a few questions, though. Firstly, why does your self assessment conclude that you have no transferable skills, despite having a technical scientific PhD? Your experience has also given you *some* degree of interaction with industry, which would probably be beneficial to your PhD when looking for interesting jobs outside of academia. Certainly it might give you the edge over someone who only has academic experience. I would suggest getting an objective opinion on your skill-set as it may be that you are under-estimating your options.

Secondly, it seems that you have identified a potential barrier to pursuing an academic career, but casually disregarded the solution. If you are very keen to pursue an academic career, then I would recommend publishing from your thesis. Perhaps the content doesn't interest you, but it is an achievable means to an end. Would it be so objectionable to do this that you are willing to throw away what you originally aimed to achieve? If you expect that every publication will be on a topic that truly enthuses you, you may find an academic career path disappointing anyway.

Agree with Hazy. Just see publication as a hoop to jump through to get the Jobs you want. You don't have to be in love with your subject to write for publication- means to an end! Congrats on your PhD Dr :)

You misunderstand me. I was led to believe I was working with one supervisor when the plan all along was to work with someone else of much lower quality. It was a complete scam. Thanks for the support anyway.

Odos, I don't think Hazy and Wowzers misunderstood you. What is done is done, but what counts now for you is that you have a PhD and several options open. I wouldn't be so quick in discarding their advice, which is constructive and to the point.
Maybe in the meantime you have taken a decision about your next steps and the path you want to pursue. In any case, as Hazy suggested, it may be good getting an objective opinion that helps you looking at the outcomes of your PhD process in a more positive and constructive way.

:) in any case, all best for your next professional steps!

Yes there's the catch. I was never officially employed in the industry but they still dictated the course of my research. I learned no skills applicable anywhere else but this company. The whole process was a lure to get me to work for a company as they had provided funding for the department. It was intended that I work there once per year but later I was told they didn't have space for me. In the end, the department gets paid and the company gains a thrall. Although I understand many of you still believe universities to be legitimate institutions please take heed. Lack of public funding is leading to increasingly shady practices as they evolve into corporate entities. This is predatory capitalism at its worst and I really wouldn't want anyone else to suffer a similar fate.

Your experience sounds more like typical academic disorganisation rather than the university evolving into a corporate entity, though it is true to say universities are far more commercially minded these days. Professor loses interest in pet project and moves onto something else, shock, horror etc. I think a lot of senior academics are guilty of this, though the more professional academics will try to see through the project if there's a student involved.

Take a good look at you PhD and see what you have gained from it in terms of project and time management (a PhD is a sizeable project), research and writing skills, etc. Other elements such as statistical analysis and (possibly) modelling based on the data collected are skills that can be used in other projects too.

HazyJane makes a few good points in that you should look to publishing some papers based on your PhD work, thus improving your profile and the impact of your CV. Published papers may help in persuading employers (academic or otherwise) that you've got something out of your PhD and are therefore of value to them if they employ you. A PhD is very much a reflection of the candidate's abilities and post-PhD, you should still be looking at how you can take the initiative to improve your position and employability. You've passed, the academics have their successful student to add to their own CVs, now I'm afraid it's up to you no matter what the rights and wrongs are.

Ian

Excellent reponse, thanks for the input Hazy and Beefy! I'm still working on publications but looks like the only way to accomplish is finding part time work and getting on with the rest in my spare time. Although I'd argue that academic disorganisation is a product of the dismantling of public institutions, I retract that "at its worst" comment, as there are many worse examples!

My odd phd experience included things like my advisor washing his hands of me, telling me he wanted nothing to do with me or my research project because he was not interested. But then felt the need to be co-author on published work. Also involved my supervisor losing interest, a bit like yours I guess.