by Aditi Khadilkar, Process Technology Development Engineer (Intel Corp., OR)
For those of us who have gotten PhDs, we may have fond memories of one of the most “interesting” times in our lives. With the process fresh in mind, I’d like to share some insights about how the PhD process has many parallels to our life journey.
By definition, the PhD is a degree conferred for scholarship and original contribution to research in a field of learning. From one perspective, it may be considered one of the most enjoyable periods of an academic career – you have nearly complete freedom to choose a research topic but you are still not solely responsible for the outcome. The advisor technically bears the brunt of acquiring grants and answering sponsors and is available to provide guidance to you. Only doctoral students understand this dependent-independence can be far from blissful.
One of the biggest challenges during the PhD process is dealing with the extremely high levels of uncertainty. This is due to the incessant hard work towards a distant goal that continuously evolves. Part of your challenge is to identify a goal (problem statement) that can be achieved within a reasonable time frame, with the available resources. Here is where we can draw our first parallel between the PhD process and life!
In life, everyone seeks to achieve a set of self-defined goals in their lifetime with the resources they have available. We can all identify with uncertainty in life and this same feeling of uncertainty is well understood by PhD students during their 4 to 6 year crash-course. Along with this uncertainty come failures (e.g., experiments not yielding results), difficult relationships (e.g., stress during research meetings) and continuously changing direction. However, anyone who has earned a PhD understands and develops for themselves a coping mechanism to survive the hardships. The lessons we learn while surviving the degree and are valuable on life’s journey.
I see four phases of PhD process that can be extrapolated to life:
Stage 1 – PhD year 1 equals being in your 20s and 30s
Stage 2 – PhD year 2 equals your 40s
Stage 3 – PhD year 3 equals your early 50s
Stage 4 – PhD year 3+ equals mid-50s and beyond
Stage 1 is one of complete freedom to explore, learn and discover a problem statement/life goal. This is simultaneously a period of high dependency but also adequate encouragement and understanding from a supervisor. Your responsibility level is lower, but the uncertainty is higher. The importance of this stage is often missed by PhD students in graduate school and humans in life. It is important to learn the most you can in this period and develop a good problem statement/life goal to lead into the next stage.
Once you have a clearly defined goal set, half the battle is won and your focus changes to implementation. In stage 2, you work meticulously towards collecting the requisite data. It is a period of focused hard work with little encouragement and results are not immediately evident. Flexibility, risk-taking, and failing fast but strong are some of the important lessons in this time frame as you build the foundation. Your responsibilities increase and you need to plough through without many kudos. You also start to present a few ideas publicly and get critical feedback. This can be difficult, but extremely useful.
In the stage 3, you should have a good grasp of the situation and be ready for a comprehensive examination in which you demonstrate a stronghold and expertise in your chosen field. Having explored and gathered solid evidence, you can convince all stakeholders of the project’s merit and chances of success. This period is one of interdependence (you are not only receiving guidance but are a contributor), in which you field numerous opportunities and establish yourself.
Finally, in stage 4, you are almost certain of success but need to continue execution until the sweet fruits start bearing. You also have the responsibility and motivation to share your learning so that the torch of knowledge can be carried forward. You are now truly independent.
The four-stage PhD cycle might occur as one or many cycles in life. The durations described are not hard and fast, and each experience is influenced by many factors as your path evolves.
In addition to the life skills developed during the PhD process, you learn good communication skills, and how to deal with and persuade people. You are also learning an important entrepreneurial skill: how to find the right problem and solve it for societal benefit. You also may see your mentor-mentee relationship evolve from advisor to boss to colleague to friend.
In summary, although getting a PhD presents a concentrated set of new challenges to young graduates, it is a valuable experience that teaches us to Persist towards our Hopes and Dreams.
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