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skedeebs t1_irtof33 wrote

Congratulations. Having achieved a PhD in what seems a very specialized field, I am disheartened that it took 46 applications to get there, but the result will make that inconvenience just disappear from memory. I hope you get to take part in something ground-breaking at least once in your career, and make things better for everybody.

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badchad65 t1_irtswxt wrote

I thought getting a job in 46 applications was pretty good tbh. The tough part about applying for PhD level positions is that that minimum requirement is a PhD. So every applicant has one.

I finished mine about 15 years ago. It was just before pretty much everything went online so job sites weren't hugely popular. Nonetheless, I put my CV on monster.com hoping for job prospects. I think it was only about a day until I got an email with something like "join our team!" in the subject line. I enthusiastically opened the email, dreaming of how high the pay would be with my fancy new PhD.

It was an offer from McDonald's letting my know I could be a manager. Now, there's nothing wrong with McDonald's, I had just hoped for more with an advanced degree.

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TheWorldEndsWithCake t1_irvhgpn wrote

When I was in grad school, LinkedIn recommended a similarly prestigious position to me and one of my colleagues:

Walmart greeter. For research engineers, both with experience. We roasted each other pretty thoroughly that day.

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zipykido t1_iruk1bi wrote

As someone in the field currently, the hardest part is getting your foot in the door. Everybody has a PhD, and there's a bit of mindset retraining for industry.

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