/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.11731251]

I just got a PhD in physics yesterday. Hated my life for the last 4 years because of it. Ask me anything you want.

>What school?
Pic related.

[Anonymous No.11731254]

>>11731251
What are your plans for the future?

[Anonymous No.11731264]

>>11731254
I work for a company that manufactures scientific instruments starting on Monday. No plans to do research ever again.

[Anonymous No.11731280]

>>11731264
>I work for a company that manufactures scientific instruments starting on Monday.
good for you anon
>No plans to do research ever again.
was it that bad? undergrad here

[Anonymous No.11731296]

>>11731280
>was it that bad?

For me it was. A few people have a good time I guess, but years and years of disappointment with shit pay made me salty. For the last 3 years all I've wanted is to just finish.

I got paid about $35K a year to do double the work that my friends that worked in tech companies right after undergrad and they made at least $60K starting. Depends on your advisor and luck I guess.

[Anonymous No.11731306]

>>11731296
huh, alright. wasn't planning on going into phd immediately anyways, but thank you for the insight.

[Anonymous No.11731325]

>>11731251
https://youtu.be/IRDpW7QOyGw?t=47m10s

[Anonymous No.11731343]

>>11731251
How much lab work have you done, up until you get your PhD
I love engineering but hate writing lab reports, that's why i want to study physics, considering there's less lab work in physics that engineering

[Anonymous No.11731408]

>>11731343
I worked for 3 labs for a year each (sophomore, junior, senior) as an undergrad.

I grad school, I worked in one lab for 3 years, then quit and didn't have an official lab appointment for a almost year, then I worked for another one for 3 years.

You have to write everything down in any serious experimental physics lab. Not exactly lab reports like in lab courses as an undergrad, but you write everything you do in your lab notebook.

You can try to get away with not writing it down, no one is gonna make you. You'd be screwing your future self though. Let's say you make some samples of whatever, and it lasts you 2 years until some fuckface undergrad drops the stock. You are not gonna remember EXACTLY what you did 2 years ago if you didn't write it down. Most likely, you didn't get it right on your first try when you did it the first time since there is no "manual" for the kind of science you will be doing during your PhD, and it took you months of work to come up with the recipe. See what I mean?

[Anonymous No.11731459]

>>11731408
I get what you say, writing a journal is not a problem
I meant those labs (as homework) with specific template and deadline and what not

[Anonymous No.11731481]

>>11731251
what subfield / phenomenon were you researching? Also, theory or experiment?

[Anonymous No.11731499]

>>11731459
>I meant those labs (as homework) with specific template and deadline and what not
You never have to do that at all unless it's a part of a class. I never took a class that required that and have never heard of a grad student taking one. Usually we are the ones assigning that to undergrads.

>>11731481
I did experimental atomic physics first, then computational soft matter and microscopy.

[Anonymous No.11731516]

What day to day things made you miserable?
Was there a part you miss/enjoyed?

[Anonymous No.11731518]

>>11731459
OP here again, I guess the one loophole is that if you are teaching a lab class, you have to do the whole thing as a dry run (including the lab report) before you assign it to students.

Again, I guess you could try to skip it, but you'd probably make the course head really mad, and you'd look so dumb when things don't work for the students and you have no idea what to do cause you didn't even try it.

[Anonymous No.11731528]

>>11731251
by this photo do you mean caltech or harvard?

[Anonymous No.11731545]

Wish I were you, OP. Still got 2 years ahead. Congrats for not killing yourself

[Anonymous No.11731564]

>>11731264
what do you do there?

>>11731296
as depressing as it sounds, if you're only in it for the money, consider software

[Anonymous No.11731575]

>>11731251
where do you get your ideas from?

[Anonymous No.11731576]

>>11731251
I had a revelation recently, I was on track to get a PhD in mathematics (I know many people in the department, worked as a tutor for the school for years and had a pretty good chance of getting in).
Not a bad school, rankings wise. But I fucking hate my life, I really do. I dream of the day that I'm not in fucking school anymore, I'm not pursuing a PhD or a masters.
I feel so good about this decision.

[Anonymous No.11731578]

>>11731296
>$35K a year
you poor thing

[Anonymous No.11731582]

>>11731325
what an absolute nerdchad

[Anonymous No.11731625]

>>11731516
There really weren't day-to-day things that mad me miserable. It was mostly the overall situation of being stuck there.

But I'll tel you some things I liked and some things I hated.

Hate:
- Teaching entitled undergrads. There weren't a lot, but there was always one guy/girl that was like. Sorry, I never went to any lecture, turned in ANY homework, and I forgot to drop in time. Can I still get at least a B cause I need to graduate cause it's my major. It always worked out for them cause it makes professors and TAs look bad if they have to fail a student.
-Working with people I don't like. Sometimes you get a new grad student or postdoc that works on the exact same thing as you and you just have to deal with them. Same as a normal job I guess

Like/ I'll miss:
- Shooting the shit with my bros (male and female) around the office/Lab at lunch or the end of the day
- Immunity to being fired. Don't make the deadline? Decide to sleep in? Miss a meeting? Professors can't do shit.
- Coding whatever I want as my job. I basically made my position what I wanted it to be. No one actually TOLD me what to do ever.

[Anonymous No.11731631]

>>11731545
I hope you have an advisor that will just say what mine said.
>It looks like you want to graduate soon, so let's just focus on making that happen and benefit both of us.

[Anonymous No.11731638]

>>11731296
> entered the system wanting to make some research
> after years in the system doesn't want to make research ever again
Now you understand they're there not to help you make science but to restrain you from doing science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzC1IRYN_Ps

[Anonymous No.11731642]

>>11731564
I am in a sales position now. I will miss coding. My colleagues don't even know what git is. I'm going to worm my way into the codebase eventually, because they basically hired me because of my strong coding skills. I am in it for the money, IDGF about sales, but they pay me $105K and I was making $35K so I will do whatever they want because that was basically already what I did.

[Anonymous No.11731663]

>>11731528
Harvard. I didn't know Sidney was also at Caltech. This is a pic of him standing in the hallway between the "String Theory Quarantine" and the now defunct physics library (it was absorbed into the "Cabot Science Library" a couple years ago. Now it's just a "reading room.")

[Anonymous No.11731673]

>>11731663
it's where he did his PhD. I'm only asking because I'm there now.
what experimental atomic group were you in? I know a lot of people in AMO including the faculty. if you don't want to doxx yourself I get it

[Anonymous No.11731681]

>>11731251
Larp.

[Anonymous No.11731697]

>>11731575
>Join a lab that does science you're interested in
>Ask prof what they do and where they need help
>Collaborate with senior students and postdocs for 1-2 years because you have no idea how to be an independent researcher.
>You have to do your qualifying examination, so you have to make up a topic based on what you *think* you can do and convince 3-4 professors that you can do it.
>Work X years
>Okay, you realize you need to graduate at some point.
>Decide what you are good at and only you can do. Doesn't matter if it's the same topic as your qual. This is your thesis.
>Run it by your primary advisor.
>Research harder than before
>write papers and thesis harder than before
>PhD

[Anonymous No.11731698]

>>11731642
you could be making way more than 105k in software if you know the right people

[Anonymous No.11731700]

>>11731578
I think it's closer to $38K now but fuck grad student salaries.

[Anonymous No.11731704]

>>11731642
>>11731698
also wait you literally have a physics phd from an ivy you could probably get a quant dev interview but heard those places kinda suck

[Anonymous No.11731724]

>>11731673
I think it will definitely doxx me if I say. It you are savvy, here's a hint: My original advisor moved from Harvard a few years ago, and I quit when they did because they were a complete asshole and didn't tell me at all. I found out from a 3rd party months after the decision.

[Anonymous No.11731736]

>>11731698
I'm not a software developer because my resume doesn't reflect that. I am an experimental/computational physicist. I tried applying to software positions and didn't get a call back.

[Anonymous No.11731760]

>>11731704
See
>>11731736

It doesn't really matter even if it is an Ivy since I don't have experience programming things the companies want to do. I didn't use ML in my research at all. I did model based programming and ML has no intrinsic model. Zoomers straight out of college have a better chance than me at Google/Amazon/Wayfair.

[Anonymous No.11731800]

>>11731736
>>11731760
hm, i'm sure there's a way in, it's a shame you burnt out
science is a meme :c

[Anonymous No.11731826]

>>11731625
>It always worked out for them cause it makes professors and TAs look bad if they have to fail a student.
does that really happen in american universities???

[Anonymous No.11731829]

>>11731800
Maybe, but I can't fart around submitting more and more applications. I need a real job to support my family.

DESU I think I got fucked because I was trying to apply for jobs in [late] March, April, and May when no one was hiring due to the pandemic. I even contacted recruiters at Google, Microsoft, and Wayfair that were looking for Harvard PhD grads specifically.

[Anonymous No.11731853]

>>11731829
yeah, physics phds are valuable
m-maybe see if you know anyone at G or msft's quantum team so you can make me a catgirl kek

[Anonymous No.11731913]

>>11731826
No this is a Harvard thing as far as I know. You get rated by the students on your performance (Q score) and everyone in the university can see it. It's rated on a 5 star scale.

If you are a professor, getting too many bad ratings will result in the department administration will denying your requests to teach a certain course. Every professor has to teach at least one or two courses per year. There is an unspoken stigma that if you fail a student, that means you failed to teach them properly. Your goal it to teach a class and have everyone understand and do well. This is how the students take advantage of you as a professor. If you taught a class and failed more than 1 or 2 students, you'd never be able to teach that class again.

For grad students, you qualify for a "Bok Center teaching award" if you get above 4/5. You typically need at least 4.6 to win though. It doesn't mean anything though. It's just internal clout if you want to keep being a TA (teaching assistant). Most physics experimental labs have enough money to pay you as an RA (Research assistant) though, so it's just theory cucks trying to compete for this. The grade isn't up to you even though you grade everything. Your contribution is an opinion of what grade the student should get. There's no real grading scale for any class. You can grade everything and if the prof decides that 70 is an A, 65 is a B, etc, you can't do shit.

[Anonymous No.11732143]

>>11731724
ah, if I know who you're talking about, he actually moved to my undergrad uni. we might've crossed paths at some point.

[Anonymous No.11732158]

>>11732143
while I was still there, mind you. I took a class under him, if he happens to teach grad quantum

[Anonymous No.11732306]

>>11732143
>>11732158
He went to Northwestern.

[Anonymous No.11732320]

>>11732306
yeah that's what I was trying to get at.
he was a nice prof, was he really an asshole advisor? I could see that being the case, actually.
my condolences, hope you ended up with someone better. my undergrad PI actually did his thesis under GG, so there's a lot of overlap.

[Anonymous No.11732382]

>>11731251
>go to schools literally known for academic strength and connections
>cant get a highpaying job, not even an average american paying job
This is your fault and your problem. People with less resources do better.

[Anonymous No.11732387]

>>11732382
based, that's why Saharan-African nations are flourishing right now

[Anonymous No.11732443]

>>11731251
sidney was an effing GOD

[Anonymous No.11732480]

>>11732382
I live in a third world country where university education is heavily subsidized. My degree (5 years of MechE) literally costs $600 and I have a lot of job opportunities waiting for me once I graduate.

Pursuing a degree in a prestigious university in the US literally seems like you're shooting yourself in the foot.

[Anonymous No.11732482]

>>11732480
PhDs are funded. you get a salary

[Anonymous No.11732489]

>>11731251
Why you here, dude?
This is a low culture site, intellectuals should have their own space.

[Anonymous No.11732495]

>>11732480
Maybe if you'd stop bribing foreign ministers to let you come to our country you'd understand that your education is complete shit.

[Anonymous No.11732565]

>>11732495
Idk man, all my pofessors without exception got their PhDs in France, Italy, Germany and the UK. Undergraduate degrees shouldn't vary that much between different countries, we use the same material that's taught everywhere else.

>you'd understand that your education is complete shit.
You seem salty.

[Anonymous No.11732593]

>>11732320
OP here. Fuck him. I had a medical problem that involves me getting surgery and he decided to move there in the meantime and they "forgot" to tell me in person, over phone, email, or anything at all. None of the other students bothered to tell me either. All I got was an email asking why I wasn't working enough on his failure of an experiment.

[Anonymous No.11732595]

>>11731296
I get you. I was homeless for a huge portion of grad school just so I could have the money to move.

[Anonymous No.11732626]

>>11732595
>homeless during grad school

What the hell dude. How did that happen?

[Anonymous No.11732631]

>>11731251
If you could go back would you major in ECE or CS?

[Anonymous No.11732632]

>>11732626
not hime but like 20% of UCI studentssleep in thier cars, for example

[Anonymous No.11732638]

>>11731325
>>11731582
>>11732443
The Chad Sidney Coleman.
The Virgin Richard Feynman.

[Anonymous No.11732643]

>>11732632
This is the shit I'm talking about. What is going on with tertiary education in the USA?

All I hear from anons on this board is how close they are to commiting suicide because of the massive debt and >nojob waiting for them at the end of the line.

It now turns out grad school students sleep in their cars for whatever reason.

[Anonymous No.11732644]

>>11732631
I would have just gone to MIT in EECS instead. Or if I went back further than that, I would have just gotten a job. Probably have made the same but not have the trauma.

[Anonymous No.11732675]

Also I only met Brian once, but I guess G is his boss again without him even making full professor yet. RIP to his career.

[Anonymous No.11732676]

>>11732675
>>11732320

[Anonymous No.11732681]

>>11732643
thanks Reagan

[Anonymous No.11732699]

I cant believe actul harvard students post ehre for some reason

[Anonymous No.11732707]

>>11732681
That's fucking brutal. Ever thought about moving somewhere else?

[Anonymous No.11732709]

>>11732593
I'm very sorry. I can see him being this way.

B was nothing but great to me in all aspects, which is a shame for me to see what's happening to him. He has aggressive brain cancer now, projected 12 years to live per an email we all got. So it seems RIP to his career in multiple aspects. it kills me every time I remember it

[Anonymous No.11732718]

>>11732489
>>11732699
I've been posting here (4chan not /sci/ specifically) since I was in high school you newfags. Almost 15 years. Why would I stop when I got into some fancy pants school. Doesn't change who I am on the inside.

[Anonymous No.11732722]

>>11732709
Didn't know about the cancer. I feel even worse for him now.

[Anonymous No.11732733]

>>11732722
it's a relatively recent development, not public info yet. but yeah it fucking sucks. I remember before I graduated all the grad students were talking about if they should leave or not.

what experiment were you on that you deem a failure? if you give minimal details I'm sure I can understand. any advice for someone starting in a position similar to where you started?

[Anonymous No.11732736]

>>11732632
>>11732643
Tuition waivers don't save you from mountains of stupid fees that aren't waived. Stipend wasn't enough to have a place to live anywhere nearby, even if I didn't eat or use electricity. I did work part-time in addition to school and my assistant-ship, but that was technically against school rules because they decided it makes them look bad.
>>11732707
Moving is really expensive, anon. Hell, I'd be cutting calories just to afford the passport. I've lived the way americans meme about russians being, yet I'm a white male from the land of the free.

Make no mistake; much of this is my fault. I went to grad school for math knowing how hard it would be to get by in the meantime AND knowing how competitive the job market is. I paid for my cockiness.

[Anonymous No.11732790]

>>11732736
That's so sad to hear. People in the pursuit of knowledge shouldn't be forced to live like that.

However, I'm sure someone with your qualifications could make serious money somewhere else. Hell, transnational corporations would probably kill to have you.

Best of luck to you in your future endeavours, anon. I genuinely mean it.

[Anonymous No.11732809]

>>11732790
Nah, I'm fucking useless. I didn't finish a PhD and I have no work experience better than the shitty min wage jobs I used to get by in college. Plus I couldn't afford to move to a place that has real jobs. Now even those shitty mcjobs don't want me because I'm overqualified. I really wish they would understand that I'm the actual moron who got an MA in math.

This isn't a pity story. It's a warning. I am an idiot; do not be like me. Be useful.

[Anonymous No.11732815]

>>11731251
How many hours per week did you had to work? And how many hours were you paid for?

[Anonymous No.11732887]

>>11732733
The one he brags about being really, really precise but hasn't had a real publication in 14 years.

I guess I don't have advice because I really thought we could do good work together when I started, but I guess we didn't "make enough of our own luck."

[Anonymous No.11732916]

>>11732809
I hate to say this, but maybe suck it up go back to finish. I was almost you desu, but I somehow dragged myself through it in one go. I've seen a few people that quit and it always haunted them unless the went back to finish years later. The worst I saw was a lady that quit her science PhD after 4 years, became a English HS teacher for 10 years, had a kid, then still came back to finish in 1.5 more years cause it always kept her up at night. The graduate program will probably let you back in b/c it really hurts their reputation to have people drop out.

[Anonymous No.11732926]

>>11732887
gotcha. well, here's hoping I don't hate my stuff at the end of it. nice talking to you and hearing your perspective, small world

[Anonymous No.11732927]

>>11732815
It was salaried. There is no clocking in or out but you are expected to work "enough." Late nights, weekends, holidays, whatever. It's insidious because they don't tell you how much to work. All you have is comparing yourself to your fellow grad students. At one point I was working 11 AM to 1 AM six days a week because I really wanted results. I had to stop because I realized it was destroying my personal life.

[Anonymous No.11732929]

>>11732926
Good luck bro.

[Anonymous No.11732941]

>>11732736
You need roommates man. I don't know any grad students in Cambridge or the Bay Area that can afford to live on their own. Basically it's roommates until you find a GF or bf to split rent with.

[Anonymous No.11732977]

>>11731251
got any gossip on Sabrina? or even Monica? some friends of mine were wondering, pic related

[Anonymous No.11732987]

>>11732916
I went to a terminal masters. There's no PhD program at my garbage uni and by the time I finished MA I wanted nothing to do with academia. Frankly, you are assuming better of me than I deserve.
>>11732941
Regardless of roommates, the deposits were far more than I could save up for. I should've gotten a real job and save up.

[Anonymous No.11733059]

>>11731631
That's really nice of you, but I basically don't have a supervisor and have to do pretty much everything on my own.
The freedom is nice, but it comes with an uncertainty that I'm not sure I can handle.
Godspeed bro. Are you staying in academia?

[Anonymous No.11733501]

>>11732565
unis in western europe and american ivy ones are on the business of branding. they sell their image and illustrious history. this (germany; but france/uk are the same) is absolutely full of ((developing)) countries ((students)), meaning the more or less spoiled children of their elites. they come here to get their degree from a fancy uni and then go back to theirs with something the rest cannot pay for there. and they always go back, that's the deal: euro countries get their fair share of multiculti, openess and good image with hints of soft diplomacy, but they will not stay beyond their degree, phd or postdoc, oh no no no. don't get ideas. you may talk about entitlement but these people are on a complete different level. remember, they belong to the class that mostly own their countries of origin. I've attended a phd defense in which the so called ((student)) was wearing a gold rolex. obviously they are less than useless intelectually or academically. they are only tolerable because with all their entitlement and hubris, there's something deep inside them that makes submit to western white master. but god knows how it must be to deal with these assholes in their countries of origin, with their superiority and an expensive degree for a foreign country. I really pity the guy that crosses their path, specially if this poor (probably in more than one sense) guy got an actual education in a decent college at home (because this much is true: you may find at least one good to excellent technical college in basically every half decent country, from mexico to india to brazil, not fancy, not (((fucking-world-class-nature-level-publication-fuck))) but where they know fucking well their shit, in particular in some focused fields related to national interests). but I digress.
the whole system is like that, but it certainly is not sustainable. the numbers of euro students on stem (or basically, wherever) has dropped so low, and their level is so miserable

[Anonymous No.11733706]

has anyone here that pursued or intends to pursue a graduate degree ever considered studying the curriculum by themselves instead of enrolling in a graduate program if they don't desire an academic career but enjoys the subject? otherwise wouldn't the diploma be just a useless and stressful piece of paper?

[Anonymous No.11733724]

>>11731625
>I never went to any lecture, turned in ANY homework, and I forgot to drop in time. Can I still get at least a B cause I need to graduate cause it's my major. It always worked out for them cause it makes professors and TAs look bad if they have to fail a student.

what the fuck. i refuse to believe this is the case in an ivy league. can anyone confirm this

[Anonymous No.11733728]

Please tell me the problems with this autistic theory I made up one day

>Time dilation happens when close to a large mass. Time passes closer at sea level than on top of mount everest
>As one approaches the singularity of a black hole, already past the point of no return, time slows down harder for shit closer to the center
>An inner radius could be defined, at which point time is so slow (relative to an observer outside the black hole) that an observer at this point could see the event horizon shrinking, due to Hawking radiation
>The inner radius would be a proportion of the mass of the black hole, therefore a ratio of the size of the event horizon, at which the event horizon shrinks at a similar rate to ones fall towards the center
>Because this is a proportion, they could only reach 0 at the same time
>So, spacetime gets so fucky inside a black hole that new shit can't ever hit the center

[Anonymous No.11733729]

>>11732495
kek salty butthurt mutt

[Anonymous No.11733731]

>>11732632
haha this is the state of American education and students

[Anonymous No.11734120]

>>11732632
Do Americans really…

[Anonymous No.11734282]

Americans don’t realize how shitty their country has become. Expensive education, expensive employer-dependent healthcare, gun violence, deep-rooted racism, religious extremism, male circumcision, suppressed employee’s rights, corporate media and the general malaise of their dog-eat-dog world. Now watch them defend it.

[Anonymous No.11734447]

>>11733724
>But can't I just do all the work this weekend and still pass? Please?

[Anonymous No.11734798]

>>11731251
hi Patrick! you gave a great defense!

[Anonymous No.11734816]

>>11734282
>deep-rooted racism

it's true, black people have gotten really open about it recently. I wish they'd stop, as with their low average IQ and high time preference, it won't end well for them! Sad!

[Anonymous No.11735399]

>>11732443
Reminds me of when I started studying, there used to be ashtrays in the lecture halls. Completely unimaginable nowadays.

[Anonymous No.11735727]

>>11734282
I guess they have finally accepted it. Yet, they do nothing to solve it.

[Anonymous No.11736317]

>>11731625
so same annoying crap that everyone with a job is exposed to

[Anonymous No.11736473]

>>11733501
>unis in western europe and american ivy ones are on the business of branding

I watched this video last night and it basically said everything you've mentioned. Now, I don't know about how trustworthy this channel is since it's the first ever video I've watched from them, but if true, the numbers are crazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXgCG50YoWs

>because this much is true: you may find at least one good to excellent technical college in basically every half decent country, from mexico to india to brazil, not fancy, not (((fucking-world-class-nature-level-publication-fuck))) but where they know fucking well their shit, in particular in some focused fields related to national interests.

The university I attend to (top 800 according to QS, if that's worth a shit) was founded with the only objective to prepare people to tend to the nation's infrastructure. In my 4 years of studies I've been to every major project in the country including hydroelectric power plants, solar arrays, wind farms, shipyards and airplane maintenance failicites in airports. Private businesses operating these facilities are very open to receiving students since they know they'll have to hire us at some point and give us hands-on experience as early as they can.

>euro countries get their fair share of multiculti, openess and good image with hints of soft diplomacy, but they will not stay beyond their degree, phd or postdoc,

This is also true. I'm planning to apply for grad school in couple years somewhere in either Western Europe or Asia, just to say I got educated abroad and secure an even bigger paycheck when I come back.

[Anonymous No.11736604]

>>11734282
It’s something Chomsky has talked about. Americans, compared to the average European, have it difficult. America is so propagandised and so willing to allow themselves be willing to be taken for a ride by massive corporations and conglomerates that’s it’s insane. It’s comical how CNN and Fox News act but scary how much influence they have.

[Anonymous No.11736617]

>>11731251
I'm sorry to hear anon. Why did you stay in the program?

[Anonymous No.11736662]

>>11735727
Im not a Tankie by any means but America needs its second revolution. That might mean a split up of the empire itself. But it’s political system needs a change.

[Anonymous No.11737348]

>>11733501
>>11736473
So, the ivy leagues are in the business of status laundering?

[Anonymous No.11740957]

>>11731296
>35k

That's pretty high really.

[Anonymous No.11741343]

>>11732718
Did you have any problems dealing with the uni libs?

[Anonymous No.11742179]

>>11731642
What languages should I learn?
t. Just finished first year mechanical engineering.

[Anonymous No.11742715]

>>11731736
Fucking retard, throw that shit pride away because nobody will like you. Alter your resume to highlight your coding, start at a smaller position and then job hop. Its really fucking easy if you're not a moron

If your iq is anywhere close to mine then you should be fine at anything you do. But seriously drop the faux bravado.

[Anonymous No.11743377]

>>11731251
How to be smart/

[Anonymous No.11743612]

>>11742179
Pick one and learn it well enough do you can do anything with it.
>Can you do this in Java?
>No but if it were C++ or Python, here's what I would do. Give me a week or so and I can probably make it work with your legacy Java code.

[Anonymous No.11743619]

>>11740957
Not to live where I live.

[Anonymous No.11743626]

>>11736317
Yes. PhD is pretty much a job.

[Anonymous No.11743630]

>>11736617
Career and financial security.

[Anonymous No.11743974]

>>11743630
Those are odd reasons to pursue a PhD. Did you actually find such things at the end of your journey?

[Anonymous No.11746304]

>>11731264
>No plans to do research ever again
Based, academia research is slavery.

[Anonymous No.11746665]

>>11731251
Why don't you apply to a Wall Street job? Like a quant analyst or strat. I'm sure you have excellent mathematical skills that will put you above 95% of applicants.

[Anonymous No.11746691]

>>11731251
Congrats, OP!

Working on trying to finish mine within the next 6-9 months (plasma physics). Spent most of the last 2-3 years dealing with instrumentation and analysis obstacles, *finally* started making real and rapid progress the last couple months so I'm fucking stoked.

Going to be happy as hell to be finished - can't wait to have a normal fucking life.

[Anonymous No.11746819]

>>11746665
Wall Street jobs are soul-crushing. If you're gonna do it - get in, work a year or two to save up a nest egg, and get the fuck out... don't go career.

[Anonymous No.11746948]

>>11746665
even assuming OP as a good knowledge of stochastic computation applied to finance quant don't make that much. If he's already making 105K in bumfuck nowhere he has no reason to move to NY to make basically the same thing

[Anonymous No.11747127]

>>11746304
cope

[Anonymous No.11747381]

>>11736604
Based comrade Chomsky.

[Anonymous No.11748838]

>>11734282
Europeans don't realize how shitty their continent has become. A welfare state they can only afford because of massive American subsidization, widespread suppression of free expression and association by the State, infringement of national sovereignty by a commission of unelected bureaucrats. Now watch them defend it.

[Anonymous No.11749612]

>>11732809
so should i not get a bsc in math?

[Anonymous No.11749645]

>>11731251
Post proof of gtfo

[Anonymous No.11750532]

I wanted to do physics, instead went into another field that made a bunch of cash. Now I regret not studying harder. guess that makes me a retard

[Anonymous No.11750546]

>>11731698
that statement makes no sense since it all depends on your location. 105k is SF? or in a flyover town?

[Anonymous No.11750552]

>>11735399
thats a long program. are you a doctor?
when are you graduating?

[Anonymous No.11750580]

>>11731251
which is your favorite subfield?
any thoughts about contemporary physics?
are you going to work for mcdonalds or burger king?

[Anonymous No.11750591]

>>11750552
Graduated long ago. Started studying in 2003. The ashtrays vanished pretty quickly afterwards.

[Anonymous No.11750612]

>>11731251
How intelligent do you think you are? Do you have a broad base of knowledge? Do you think of anything revolutionary in your field? Do you believe in mathematical beauty? If so is it a formalism or an idea which connects to the world? What would be your definiens to the term god? What are going to be the most impactful discoveries in physics in your opinion in the next ten years?

[Anonymous No.11750900]

>>11731325

his laugh is very unique

[Anonymous No.11750908]

>>11732443
>>11731325

they didn't have amphetamines back then?

[Anonymous No.11750999]

>>11750591
ashtrays in 2003? wow i thought you were talking 1980-90's

[Anonymous No.11751036]

>>11747127
The cope is from researchers who delude themselves into thinking that their work is extremely important even though they're barely paid.

[Anonymous No.11751091]

>>11734816
cringe

[Anonymous No.11751097]

>>11736473
are you an IIT pajeet?
considering the fact you faggots and your ilk IIM, JNU other free loader universities run away after getting free education and housing for countless years..you faggots should be shot on sight especially the usless liberal art commies and muslims

[Anonymous No.11751110]

>>11736604
CNN and Fox aren't as powerful as they used to be, in this day and age of social media
It's the typical mutt arrogance and low iq that has led them here. Now they cope by blaming jews and immigrants but that problem is prevalent in pretty much any developed country, and its starting even in india and china with hyperliberalism, faggot ass new generation, no culture or work ethic in new generation but has decent money (compared to last few generations that had work ethic but no money or resources)

its only mutts who over dramatize this shit and come up with moronic conspiracies for their own delusional failures

[Anonymous No.11751117]

>>11750999
>studying medicine since 1980s
nigga wut

[Anonymous No.11751126]

>>11731913
not a harvard thing, one of my professors at UMBC mentioned this to our class. since he was trying to get his phd, he was banking on us to do our part in getting a good grade and us banking on him to teach us what we needed for a good grade. this goes hand in hand with "teacher evaluations" the students submit at the end of the semester

[Anonymous No.11751143]

What were your undergrad stats like to get into Harvard?

[Anonymous No.11751155]

>>11731251
imagine graduating from harvard just to get a 105k paying job

with those grades and brain capacity you could've graduated med school with some hardwork and earning 200-400k easily in gastroenterology or cardiology

[Anonymous No.11751282]

>>11749612
If you can line up internships, work experience, or connect it to something useful it's fine. I am useless; it is not my math degree's fault that I am a piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.11751315]

>>11740957
Yeah at my uni for my masters I got 10k per year plus tuition assistance. 3k for the summer term.

[Anonymous No.11751332]

>>11732927
lmao fucking colleges and unis are a scam if I’ve ever seen one.. what’s the endowment of Harvard? 6 billion? 8? And yet they pay 35k to working phd candidates?

[Anonymous No.11751336]

>>11732736
>Make no mistake; much of this is my fault. I went to grad school for math knowing how hard it would be to get by in the meantime AND knowing how competitive the job market is. I paid for my cockiness.

So why did you do it? Math major isn’t known for getting you a decent job or money to begin with.. I’d understand if it was medicine or some prestigious law/engineering course.. there’s parents bitching their kids to get in and tough it out, there’s tv propaganda about slick doctors and lawyers who are superstars all around etc.

Wtf did you choose math for? That’s like graduating in psychology or philosophy

[Anonymous No.11751342]

>>11751036
The real cope is from people in industry who delude themselves into thinking that their work is worthwhile because they're getting paid a lot of shekels

[Anonymous No.11751347]

>>11751155
>money is all that matters in life

[Anonymous No.11751354]

>>11751336
Not sure if I explained earlier or not, but I wanted to be a mathematician or physicist because I truly love those fields. I did the MA to test if I'm research material or not. Sitting in on a hiring meeting made me go "oh fuck this place is garbage."
>Wtf did you choose math for? That’s like graduating in psychology or philosophy
I went into it because I had been given some exposure to topology and quantum field theory as a teenager and genuinely loved them. Still do. I agree with you, however; if you read my posts I've been telling people that I am an example of what not to do.
>>11751342
No, the real cope is from brainlets like me who remain unemployed.

[Anonymous No.11751372]

>>11751342
Although it is, I don't need to feel like my work is worthwhile. I have money. It's nice getting personally thanked by the people who my work has directly impacted. It's also nice working exactly 40 hours a week and taking home six figure pay. Stay cucked by the academia con.

[Anonymous No.11751391]

>>11751332
you're wrong on many counts. endowment is not a reflection of raw cash the uni has, but rather investments and other things. that being said, harvard's is over 40 billion.
but they have no incentive to pay phd candidates any more since nobody else does. and since phds are a weird job in the sense that there's a set end-date in mind upon taking the job. granted, they could easily double this rate but then they'd be out-paying all the unis that couldn't afford this by a shit ton.

[Anonymous No.11751478]

>>11731251
Hey OP do you recommend getting a math degree at Princeton or some other ivy league then because you are literally what I look like in 5 years. Not underage just want to transfer out of my community college.

[Anonymous No.11751527]

According to Einstein's theory of relatividase, if someone were walking at the speed of light in space for 1 year and returning to Earth, the people who would be on Earth would age 10 years, but would the biological age be the same?

[Anonymous No.11751603]

>>11751527
>at the speed of light
no aging at all

[Anonymous No.11751606]

>>11751527
You can't go the speed of light, only get closer and closer with exponentially more energy input. The time dilation increases the closer you get as well. You can go fast enough that one year of your time is ten years of Earth time. You can go fast enough that one second is ten years of Earth time. If you went exactly the speed of light then you hit your destination instantly. Your target is a million light years away? You get there in an instant from your perspective, a million year later from the perspective of everything else. But again, you can't go exactly the speed of light.

[Anonymous No.11751681]

How do you make an ion vortex to lift a meta-material disk?

[Anonymous No.11751705]

Are these qualifying exam things just to boot out people they don't like?

[Anonymous No.11752322]

>>11731251

can you prove the Stokes theorem?

[Anonymous No.11753107]

>>11731251
Do you think the experience you had will be similar to a math phd or would it be similarly terrible?

[Anonymous No.11753341]

>>11751347
>i need degree from a meme university to show it off to everyone!! not because i get to earn something from it.. I am so smahrt!! i did what people could do watching youtube videos and reading research papers/books

[Anonymous No.11754094]

bump

[Anonymous No.11754098]

Have you found anything like a formula or a theorem?

[Anonymous No.11754101]

Answer me

[Anonymous No.11754236]

>>11731408
With comp sci / AI (my fields) I feel most of the work gets done if you get a really great idea and can further add on to it. Often you waste months on bad ideas, and with wasting months I mean just throwing away 6-10 months of work since it was bullshit what you were doing. Which is really depressing and demotivating. Throwing away work that took the equivalent amount of effort to getting a masters degree is depressing.

[Anonymous No.11754253]

>>11733724
Yes. This is more a thing in my masters degree than my Bsc (living in the Netherlands). In my master degree it was more like ''pass everyone''. This really affected my motivation to even complete the degree and I delayed some courses / my thesis as a result.

>>11731913
Lol unis in Netherlands would have filter courses that would fail over half the students by making the course exams brutally hard.

>>11736604
The average Dutch person his views about America come directly from CNN since our state controlled media just copy paste CNN and MSNBC for their foreign / American news. Not joking on this one either. Its how you got numbers like 85-90% in Europe being in favor of Obama and thinking he was great. CNN / MSNBC that was quoted was constantly shilling for the dude lol.

I'd say majority of Europe is off even worse if you factor in a lot of nations over here (esp eastern / southern ones) are extremely corrupt. Massive corporations and conglomerates sometimes have even more influence in European nations than in the US.

[Anonymous No.11754308]

Was it worth it? I was thinking of studying physics until PhD.

[Anonymous No.11754686]

>>11736604
america is probably one of the greatest tragedies of human history

[Anonymous No.11754957]

>>11731264
>I work for a company that manufactures scientific instruments
tfw service engineer at one of those companies. i suck as an engineer

[Anonymous No.11755161]

>>11734282
dude just don't be poor!
people jump to the conclusion that since the top shelf is high quality over here, the rest must be
but yeah fuck you docs for stealing my foreskin GIVE IT BACK

[Anonymous No.11756049]

>>11732480
This is a phd not a bachelors. phds are about the same with other countries. I agree though, bachelor degrees in the US are a scam. Some are $40000 a year. And yes people do go without any scholarship, they just take government loans. What a joke. It boggles the mind that people don't realize they only reason they can charge so much is because of government loans existing.

[Anonymous No.11756057]

>>11753341
>i did what people could do watching youtube videos and reading research papers/books
I wish most people could do that. Unfortunately the only people who can self educate on advanced topics are already in universities. Not him btw just commenting on that statement.

[Anonymous No.11756091]

>>11754686
eat a steak peaty

[Anonymous No.11756411]

>>11731576
what you gonna do instead?

[Anonymous No.11756421]

>>11731264
If you don't want to do research then why bother with a doctorate? Aren't there decent industry >>11731280
jobs available for undergrads?

[Anonymous No.11756428]

>>11731296
35k is a great PhD. where at?

[Anonymous No.11756437]

>>11756428
almost anywhere gives you this price for a phd.
can /sci/ just have a sticky that says "phd's are funded" because that would've helped me 9 years ago when entering undergrad and thinking I'd have to pay for more school after

[Anonymous No.11756472]

>>11756428
I went to school for two years and started in industry doing pretty simple work for 55k. Five years later I'm just into six figs.
35k is close to poverty.

[Anonymous No.11756814]

>>11756472
Yeah, I make about $35k bartending 25 hours a week (Pre-Corona). That's definitely sub-optimal for someone working towards a PHD

[Anonymous No.11756875]

>>11731296
>getting a job right out of undergrad
Only people with connections do this

[Anonymous No.11757036]

>>11756875
If you can't get a job straight out of school then you're either a retard for picking a stupid field, or you're a retard for not schmoozing yourself into a bullshit job with your bullshit degree.

[Anonymous No.11757760]

>>11756472
>>11756814

For reference, the "standard" rate for UK PhDs (for EPSRC funding, which is probably the single most common funding source for sciences) is something like £15k per year.

Combine that with a one-bedroom flat in many UK cities being like £1k per month and you get a fucktastic experience.

[Anonymous No.11757776]

>>11756421
No. Not in Chemical Engineering, at least.

All the fun/fulfilling jobs are locked behind the PhD route. Bachelors/Masters positions tend to be more mundane but also more tedious

Masters and below ChemEs are usually "plant firefighters" or technical sales reps. And if they leave that domain, it's usually just to go into management.

PhD level ChemE is very different because it can branch off into so many other sub-disciplines and (in industry) it usually ends with the individual working as some sort of subject matter expert or designing & overseeing R&D projects. But you can pretty much do whatever you want with it.

Not sure how well this applies to other fields though

[Anonymous No.11757806]

>>11731829
happy you mentioned this anon
>SCI PLEASE READ THIS
it's not true for every company, but in general when applying for jobs fresh out of school, you will have the best luck applying between September and November.
This is the hottest time of year for hiring. Companies are better able to determine their budgets and solidify hiring requirements. Jobs being filled at this time aren't necessarily even starting within the next 6 months, sometimes over a year. And it's a good time for networking regardless
Not that you should "give up" if you can't apply during that range. But if you CAN then you should.

[Anonymous No.11757908]

>>11757776
can confirm. nice description of chemical engineering grad school. there's still traditional chem. eng. problems you can tackle at the PhD level. For example Process/systems control can still be rooted in chem e but these days most people are integrating big data and ML, etc etc.

I'm doing my PhD in a ChemE department but my work has literally nothing to do with ChemE so much so others in my group say I should just work out of the physics dept. Most of the professors in the group come from chemistry or p-chem.

it all comes down to who you work under I suppose. In Europe you apply for it like a job so you know what you're getting into. In NA it's a bit more nebulous for a lot of people what kind of work you will be doing accepting the position. But indicating which professors you would like to work under will give you a broad idea of the problems available for you.

It's a bit similar to MechE as well. I know a guy whose PhD is going to be MechE but his entire dissertation is based on ellipsometry of ALD thin films. So I suppose the traditional discipline labels tend to dissolve in general at the graduate level as most things become interdisciplinary.

[Anonymous No.11757922]

>>11731325
>if you do better on the exam than you do on the problems, your grade of your exam will override the problems
Every course should be like this. Every experience of mine that involves a grading system like this, has been nothing but a pleasure.

[Anonymous No.11757924]

>>11751091
Nigger

[Anonymous No.11757957]

>>11757908
>So I suppose the traditional discipline labels tend to dissolve in general at the graduate level as most things become interdisciplinary.
Yeah, a lot of physicists I know were doing biology during their PhD for example

[Anonymous No.11757964]

>>11731251

What's your advice for an engineering undergrad, who's infatuated with science technology as concepts, but failing and repeating units from lacking discipline to study?

[Anonymous No.11758066]

>>11751091
cuck

[Anonymous No.11758282]

>>11757908
Europe has massive grants for materials science, but whenever I speak to actual graduates from the PhD colleges they are mostly unemployed. It's a massive bubble.

I work in materials science, but have mostly pushed my work towards ML papers in the hopes of finding employment before my contract runs out.

[Anonymous No.11758420]

>>11731853
>physics phds are valuable
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.11759121]

>>11757924
Pussy boy incel.

[Anonymous No.11759153]

>>11758066
>>11757924
poltards get the rope

[Anonymous No.11760519]

>>11757806
>>11757908
Disagree with you two. Process control, reaction engineering etc can all be more intetesting and challenging than PhD level work. A lot of the PhDs in my department does really tedious work that's more chemistry than anything else. Those are also the dumbest ChemEs I know, a lot of my friends who skipped gradschool entirely work as process engineers for large companies doing more interesting work now.

[Anonymous No.11761114]

>>11731251
Looking back do you think it would've been better to have gone to industry immediately or not, and why?

[Anonymous No.11761847]

>>11731296
>$35k
what the fuck? in the UK my stipend is only £15.3k, jesus we really hate scientists on this island

[Anonymous No.11762105]

>>11761847
UK is interesting in that you have huge tuition fees leading to people graduating with £40k debt, which they will never pay back because the interest rate is a draconian 3-7%, little in the way of non-repayable support from universities or the government and very high cost of living in most large cities, (£500/month usually only gets you a shitty room), all the while having low graduate salaries (£30k starting is probably above average) and even lower PhD stipends and shitty employment prospects to boot.

It seems like a system tailored to maximize long-term poverty and despair if ever you try to rise out of the working class. Your country is fucked beyond repair and heavily regret setting foot in it.

[Anonymous No.11762110]

>>11756472
pretty much this
35k is no money you can literally just work whatever and make that or more.