posted about 11 months ago
Dear Walter,
Thank you for the reply and wish you a happy new year. I mentioned love doing research, just to emphasize what i love - it has nothing more to it. I understand that you mention that I have to have career goals - without which i may not go anywhere. i tell myself that 2 of the 7 PhD years goes to my masters, to justify my not so stellar career progress.
I did read your other post regarding the requirements to be a prof, where you mention: "It is important to understand that academic careers everywhere are built on 1.) networking,networking,networking, 2.) politics, 3.) acquiring funding, 4.) forcing one's way onto authors' lists by all means, 5.) overselling oneself, and at a very distant 6.) actual research and teaching."
It is disheartening to know that politics, forcing onto the author list, and overselling are all ranked above research and teaching. i must admit that 1. i hate politics and 2. i have no idea how to force myself onto the author list ( I have been part of several interesting work, where my name got dropped from the author list.) and 3. i also do not know how to oversell myself. This last two years of my postdoc, i have been working in a project that budgeted for two postdocs, without hiring the additional postdoc. Needless to say, i have been overworking and in the verge of being burnt out. i feel the cynical approach within academics, killed the fire within me.
My 3 years within the industry has been good, really good bosses, good mentors, good money, and a good support system. However, amount of time spent on my kind or research was minimalistic.
My bachelors, masters, and PhD have all been in the same major and minor. I am starting to think, i may need a masters in an allied field to be perceived as versatile - may help me jump into the industrial research ? what do you suggest ?