I recently came across this quote by Ayrton Senna - “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.”

Although, it was said regarding F1 racing, I feel its also true for us Ph.D students and researchers.

If you no longer go for a research gap that exists, you’re no longer a researcher.

We chase paper deadlines and become a findoutologist who has the knack of asking the question WHY? and wants to find out everything or move onto the next problem.

Some people do call this a flight or fight response but we researcher’s call it….

Ask WHY?, Test WHY?, Close the gap!!!

What does it cost though? Should a person pursue a Ph.D?

A few friends (first semester MS students) recently asked me that they were considering doing a Ph.D later on. If it was a 3 year earlier version of me I would have excitedly said GO FOR IT!!

However, now that I am in my fourth year of Ph.D and feel like I have understand a few things better than before, my perspective has changed. A person should not just go for a Ph.D program just because they feel you get to go to conferences overseas, you want to figure out a few things for the time being or just want to try it.

A Ph.D is not just an academic program, its more of a sharp turn in your academic life and also somewhat in your general lifestyle. I want to be really honest about how a Ph.D program may change your priorities and perspective. You constantly need to prioritize academics and paper deadlines over social events or commitments, this does cost you enough social credit that you may start feeling a little lonely. Alongside, your focus on research publications, you may want to focus on maybe internship application/job applications, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, traveling to conferences, figuring out conference travel/registrations/itinerary, ad-hoc tasks like stepping in for teaching a class or presentation at the last moment and much more.

Apart from this there may be phases in your Ph.D where you may feel like you are not enthusiastic enough, not able to push through the paper deadlines or not being able to finish off that one last experiment before the deadline. But as my lab mate and senior Vrushali says - You need to identify your UP or DOWN phase and adapt accordingly.

Having said that, I hope I am not demotivating anyone about pursuing a Ph.D. On the positive and the optimistic end, I also want to talk about what I have gained. I have gained a set of amazing mentors and people over the last 4 years. Its important to have people within the program around as we make up a small percentage of the world’s population (to pursue a Ph.D) and can only understand/relate to each other. To keep myself occupied at times when I am not thinking about research I have been been a hobby hopper. I have been into photography, CrossFit, 3D printing, gardening, numismatics and philately. I know it sounds really good but I do get bored on one hobby and try to find something new in the next 3-5 months until something sticks.

A Ph.D helps you build the “Engineer hoon yaar, raat tak figure out kar lunga” attitude

I am an Engineer, I’ll figure it out by EOD

You become curious enough to find solutions to any problem and persistent enough to not give up.

Since, I am also a Mumbaikar at heart and a Bollywood fan.

I would like to end this by quoting SRK

Hindi:
“Agar happy ending nahi hui, toh picture abhi baaki hai mere dost.”
English:
“If there isn’t a happy ending, then the movie isn’t over yet, my friend.”

If you are a Ph.D student currently, I hope everything works out kyuki picture abhi baaki hai mere dost

AND

if you are considering a Ph.D program, I hope you DO!!! (but considering everything and staying committed to the bit)

I know this was a different kind of newsletter HAHA but…..