Why you shouldn't get a PhD

Dalforce 1941 SG

One of my NS reservist friend who is an engineer told me most Singapore engineers don't have ambition to go into research.

They are mostly in managerial post or go into teaching. The interesting thing he told me was that in his opinion the most skilled Singapore engineers were those trained in Nan Tah.

That was the most shocking thing I heard coming from engineering industry.

the Bear SG

ahhh.. i have said it many times to people who refuse to understand this:

never mistake education for intelligence

and the next line too:

never mistake intelligence for wisdom

Gerberad SG

in reply to PhdGuy,

my relative went to USA to do his studies and after graduation immediately came back to sg to work. so the 3k is measured in sgd, not usd. he is purely being underpaid. i believe his discipline belongs to one of the lower earning group, because if not he might consider staying on in the states like u...

however i am not very sure of the research field in usa, heard that the gov grants quite a good amount of money to supply research? my other relative has been doing research in one of the european countries for quite a long time. in his country the gov supports them quite alot and they are allow to team up with other researchers freely. however, the similarity with both of them is that their pay is damn low.

tell your prc colleague that he should be glad his country is producing nobel laureates, especially those still holding to the prc citizenship. i dont understand why u guys like to compare physics olympiad with nobel prize. in my opinion it is as if u are comparing caviar with salmon sushi.

i am not going to say the school's name, as i am now in a tussle with them. they refuse to let me go and dont want to publish my transcript. however i discontinued paying fees and attending lessons, because i am offered by a much better university abroad which gave me better conditions.

Jacky Woo SG

hey phdguy

if you fare badly in math, what does it mean? meaning you are lousy in something in real life?

Jacky Woo SG

phdguy do we have a physics scientist in singapore capable of winning the Nobel Laureate? are they at NUS ?

PhdGuy SG

phdguy do we have a physics scientist in singapore capable of winning the Nobel Laureate? are they at NUS ?

Can you predict when you will kick the bucket?

PhdGuy SG

hey phdguy

if you fare badly in math, what does it mean? meaning you are lousy in something in real life?

if u fare badly in math, just don't do Physics.

Jacky Woo SG

Can you predict when you will kick the bucket?

wonder this is all you can come up with your PHD studies

I see.

Jacky Woo SG

ahhh.. i have said it many times to people who refuse to understand this:

never mistake education for intelligence

and the next line too:

never mistake intelligence for wisdom

peals of wisdom

PhdGuy SG

wonder this is all you can come up with your PHD studies

I see.

No wonder u are called Jacky Woo. Keep entertaining us.

eagle SG

wonder this is all you can come up with your PHD studies

I see.

Eh... no link leh....

eagle SG

he is purely being underpaid.

i believe his discipline belongs to one of the lower earning group

This isn't called underpaid. This is called voluntarily choosing a discipline that doesn't pay well in relative terms.

Ultimately, it's interest vs pay. If you are aiming for very high pay, that isn't the right path.

Gerberad SG

This isn't called underpaid. This is called voluntarily choosing a discipline that doesn't pay well in relative terms.

Ultimately, it's interest vs pay. If you are aiming for very high pay, that isn't the right path.

to be honest, its quite hard for them to take other route out unless they have contacts and $ capital to start their own company.

just like Fcukpap said,

PhD is another ball game....it only means u r a keen and lifelong researcher over something u r to think sleep eat with it for a lifetime....it also means queueing honestly for your whole life to attain a tenure position of professorship...and hopefully would see increasing citations of your work in the quantity of prestigious journals and a "Nobel" hopeful....in the remaining vanishing last years....

life is so happy without it....

so just have to continue with it

eagle SG

I have told many before. I have an army friend who started a company 2.5 yrs ago with $100 (not $100k, a hundred dollars only), and is now grossing $600k revenue annually. Contacts? No. That guy started with selling at SgForums and HWZ marketplace.

Another army fren combined with his uni fren to come out with $10k, use SPRING Singapore's scheme to get additional $40k (for <26 yrs old) and NUS scheme to get free office. Start of 2011, his company was worth $3mil (Singtel bought a stake). Contacts? No, just his prowess in selling his idea to SPRING.

The $500k annual income PhD tutor started off earning $200 a month. Contacts? Built by himself. Capital? Zero.

Are these isolated examples? No. I can rattle off more. What's the difference between these people and the example you raised? These people don't give up, they don't resign themselves to their limited circumstances. The first guy failed in two businesses before succeeding. Heck, he don't even have a uni degree. The 2nd did only moderately well in school, but had good business sense and started reading up during army days. The 3rd quitted an engineering job due to extreme low pay and no future.

So to be extremely honest with you, while it is hard to break out of the box given limiting circumstances, it isn't anything impossible. And to be even more critical, if someone resigns himself/herself to not doing anything because of the extremely lame reason of "its quite hard for them to take other route out unless they have contacts and $ capital to start their own company", that person deserves to be just normal. And yes, to just resign to fate and continue with it as well. Nothing wrong if such a person is happy with the situation, but obviously, from your posts, your relative isn't.

As I have said earlier

It's always easier to spend time to complain, criticize, give unsolicited and unprofessional advice than to actually spend time to do the job.

I would like to add too that it is always easier to put the blame on your current situation to others than to attempt taking action to rectify it.

Jacky Woo SG

so are you working as a research fellow at NUS or NTU now? NTU more likely?

PhdGuy SG

The $500k annual income PhD tutor started off earning $200 a month. Contacts? Built by himself. Capital? Zero.

As I have said earlier

I would like to add too that it is always easier to put the blame on your current situation to others than to attempt taking action to rectify it.

well-said eagle. You shall be the next 500K tutor in Singapore. IF I were to look for business partners, I will look for ppl like u.

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