thoughts
(cross-posted from facebook)
Today, I had the chance to go visit a couple of tech companies over in San Francisco. I've seen the lifestyle at these places before so none of it was quite as surprising as the first time. Still, the creature comforts are pretty staggering. Futuristic workspaces. Catered food. Delicious lattes. In-house gym. Ping pong tables. Arcade games. Walls you can write on. Clever architecture with lots of natural light. Indoor boccie court. I made the last one up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it existed somewhere.
I'm not especially motivated by money, so let's leave that aside in the comparison. But it's hard not to look at what life would be like working in tech compared to what I do now. There are a ton of small benefits. I could live in SF. I would get to work with lots and lots of other smart young talented people. I would feel less isolated. I would most likely be eating more healthily. I would get to be working on things that are new and exciting and then I would get to move on and do something else. I love puzzles! Puzzles are basically what I do for fun anyway. Somehow solving them for a living is not something that ever occurred to me.
I don't mean to make working a tech job sound like a cakewalk, because it clearly isn't. Everyone I know who works in some kind of tech job works super-long hours. The jobs are hard to get and competitive once you're in them. You could get fired.
So, there has to be some kind of motivation that drives smart people to go to grad school in science instead of going and getting a real job, right? So what are people motivated by? Here's a semi-serious list I can come up with:
-The intrinsic value of generating new knowledge
-A belief that your work is potentially important to the rest of the world
-Your life gains more meaning from your choice of academic study than it would from working in an office
-You look down on people whose daily lives involve generating financial profit for others
-The belief that you are unable to get a real job or unsuited to it if you did get one
-Flexibility
-The potential to make more money by adding more letters after your name
-You can replace yourself with a sock puppet or a lifesize cardboard cutout and it may go unnoticed for several weeks
-Reliving your college glory days by pretending you're an undergrad
-Inertia because you've already been in school for the last 16+ years anyway
There are days when one or more of these feel like they apply, but others where none of them do at all. Beyond that, being a graduate student is lonely. The thought of being around more than just the same 50 people every day is appealing.
So, given all these factors, why am I still in grad school?
I don't have an answer to this question. Suggestions?
Today, I had the chance to go visit a couple of tech companies over in San Francisco. I've seen the lifestyle at these places before so none of it was quite as surprising as the first time. Still, the creature comforts are pretty staggering. Futuristic workspaces. Catered food. Delicious lattes. In-house gym. Ping pong tables. Arcade games. Walls you can write on. Clever architecture with lots of natural light. Indoor boccie court. I made the last one up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it existed somewhere.
I'm not especially motivated by money, so let's leave that aside in the comparison. But it's hard not to look at what life would be like working in tech compared to what I do now. There are a ton of small benefits. I could live in SF. I would get to work with lots and lots of other smart young talented people. I would feel less isolated. I would most likely be eating more healthily. I would get to be working on things that are new and exciting and then I would get to move on and do something else. I love puzzles! Puzzles are basically what I do for fun anyway. Somehow solving them for a living is not something that ever occurred to me.
I don't mean to make working a tech job sound like a cakewalk, because it clearly isn't. Everyone I know who works in some kind of tech job works super-long hours. The jobs are hard to get and competitive once you're in them. You could get fired.
So, there has to be some kind of motivation that drives smart people to go to grad school in science instead of going and getting a real job, right? So what are people motivated by? Here's a semi-serious list I can come up with:
-The intrinsic value of generating new knowledge
-A belief that your work is potentially important to the rest of the world
-Your life gains more meaning from your choice of academic study than it would from working in an office
-You look down on people whose daily lives involve generating financial profit for others
-The belief that you are unable to get a real job or unsuited to it if you did get one
-Flexibility
-The potential to make more money by adding more letters after your name
-You can replace yourself with a sock puppet or a lifesize cardboard cutout and it may go unnoticed for several weeks
-Reliving your college glory days by pretending you're an undergrad
-Inertia because you've already been in school for the last 16+ years anyway
There are days when one or more of these feel like they apply, but others where none of them do at all. Beyond that, being a graduate student is lonely. The thought of being around more than just the same 50 people every day is appealing.
So, given all these factors, why am I still in grad school?
I don't have an answer to this question. Suggestions?