Why get a PhD?

Well, this is not a question that I should be asking myself but rather a question that others often ask me. So, this post is to bring some clarity into those minds.

Let's first talk about what the goal of a PhD is. Irrespective of which PhD program you are enrolled in, the university, or the country you are in, they all share a single common goal of preparing each student towards becoming an 'independent researcher'. Of course some programs are more demanding than others, and many phd graduates may not continue to do 'research' during their career. But people often forget this specific goal of a PhD and try to relate it in terms of money, career growth, happiness and what not.

So, what is research? A definition pulled straight from Wikipedia says - "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications". 

While love for research can help you get motivated to enroll in a PhD, it is not enough to let you stick around and graduate.  Historically, at least in the US, a PhD was a path to an academic job and this served as a tangible payoff for years of hard work (read as nightouts). However, that is no longer the case as the stats show that only a very small fraction of PhDs end up taking a career in academia. 

So, what is it that keeps us all going, in other words, why do we still want to get a PhD. I think I have found the answer through my own experience as a graduate student of three years. I have to say that there is no other profession where you get to learn as you do being a PhD student. Over the years I have found that my PhD program is preparing me to not only become a researcher but also an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, listener, creative thinker, critique, marketer (surprisingly a big one), manager, engineer, developer, designer, analyst and an active team member. And above all, not to sound too cliched, it has prepared me to be resilient to whatever that is thrown at me. 

Of course the disclaimer - Neither have I graduated nor I am anywhere near to graduating, so, my experience could be better or worse a couple of years down the line. But at the end of the day, the two things that matter to me at this point are - learning and the experience of learning. And that is exactly what I expect to get out of my PhD. The best part however, are summer internships, which you can do quite a few during a PhD and they are fun, a refreshing break from academic research, and I have always seem to have had a productive time.

*** Few weeks after I posted this I came across this nice TED Talk  by Nadia Jaber a PhD graduate from Stony Brook - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHItLGBPsJ8
The talk is about the prospects of a career outside academia for phd students. Although the later part of the talk is some kind of a promotion for her private organization, there is a quote i really liked:

 "A PhD is not a one way ticket to academia, but it's really more like a passport that can take you anywhere you want to go. You just have to choose your destination and pack your bags before you leave."  

This immediately struck a chord with me, and very similar to what I have been thinking about my PhD. I do agree that the speaker, however, was referring mostly to PhDs in the life sciences discipline, whereas most PhDs in CS and related disciplines have a lot more options in the industry. But, personally, I think irrespective of the discipline, all PhD grads go through similar feelings of anxiety and desperation. Rather than fight those feelings, it is important we acknowledge them, know that it is a part of what we signed up for and we will eventually come out of it stronger.