@alyaza@beehaw.org is MIA currently, but this weekly thread has been so awesome to see and keep going; so I am making what would be her typical post for this week. Alyaza; stay safe friend, I hope everything is okay.
Beeple, how’s your mid week going so far??
Been pretty chill so far!
Playing some baldurs gate 3 and studying for the az-305 test. Looks like the role based tests are going to be open book with access to Microsoft Learn soon.
My girlfriend moved in after a year and a half as well, got lots of organizing and remembering how to live when it’s not just you in the house again. Been almost 3 years since I’ve had someone else around haha. Going wonderfully so far!
That’s so cool! It’s so enjoyable to learn that side of someone you love as well, all the little things you only know about someone if you live with them.
One of my loved ones is in hospital (in another town) so I’m really hoping they are okay.
I still feel really shy about posting here, but I’m trying to be more myself on the internet lately. Or in general.
My prayers and sympathy. I also hope your loved one gets better soon and has a good prognosis.
Talked with a bunch of current and ex-coworkers about what a shit storm the workplace is. I don’t know that I’ll ever have enough motivation to leave.
Damn, I’ve been struggling this week with whether I should leave my PhD program with a master’s or keep toughing it out, and this really hit home for me.
That’s a real mood, yeah.
I just recently decided to stick with mine. I was having a lot of doubts: feeling like I wasn’t making and progress, like I wouldn’t actually be able to finish the projects I started, impostor syndrome shit, etc. I’m happy I decided to stick with it. I just cleared some big milestones and I’m in the middle of a nice long vacation now, and I’m feeling excited again about my work.
On the other side of things, I’ve got a friend who decided to leave his PhD program with a masters a few years ago. He’s now heading up product development for a robotics startup, doing quite well for himself.
I don’t think there’re any wrong answers here. Do what will make you happiest. Maybe you just need a vacation, maybe you’re ready to move on. And remember that education is never wasted: even if you decide not to finish out the PhD, you’ve still learned a lot and that’s valuable with or without the piece of paper and title.
Best wishes, friend, whichever way you decide to go ♥
Hey, just want to start off by saying doing a PhD is the real accomplishment, not the title you get for finishing it.
That said, I relate!
I had to quit my PhD project after 1.5 years because of disagreements with my supervisors and yeah it hurt like hell. It was not my choice to quit but I was the one who decided to walk away from it in the end (as to avoid months of fighting my supervisors and struggling for 2.5 more years with mutual trust completely gone).
I made that decision in February and I’ve been feeling so much better since. I barely realised how deep of a hole I was in, or more like a vortex that keeps pulling you down. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my project (automatic speech recognition to spot oral reading errors) and did not regret putting my heart and soul into it. What I’m saying is that a PhD is so intense it’ll suck you in so deep you won’t even notice how much it controls your mind until you step out of it.
I basically cried for 2 days from just sheer grief of having to let this project (and the dream of a PhD) go. But damn if it wasn’t cathartic as hell.
I won’t assume you’re having the same experience I did but I can imagine you’re currently afraid of career perspectives in case you quit. Let me tell you: there’s a big world out there outside of academia and very few of them care if you have degrees upwards of a master’s. Prospective employers will understand that you’re intelligent regardless, and there’s much more to gain developing soft/transferable skills.
Anyway I wish you the best, not trying to encourage you to quit but please realise there are other career paths and well and quitting a PhD does not equal failure or giving up! It can be a healthy choice.
Not super great. I had a planned surgery this Tuesday that the anesthesiologists cancelled last minute because I had some mild symptoms they weren’t comfortable with. Given that this surgery involves two surgeons and a robot it may be some time before it gets rescheduled but I’m currently left in the dark- both of the surgeons regular schedulers are off so they’re trying to find someone else to figure it out and they need to use OR time for the other surgeon because the main surgeon is booked into December. I’m a bit worried it’s gonna be a rather long wait but I won’t know for a bit- they asked to give them until next Monday to sort out a schedule 😔
So I’m gonna need to figure out support again whenever they decide to book me, and probably will need to go back to work for an unknown period of time 🫠
That must be incredibly frustrating, but it’s also good to see the anaesthetists take their job so seriously. Hope you don’t have to wait too long
It’s pretty bad. I am a freshly graduated programmer, I am pretty confident with my programming skills but I can’t find a job for 5 months now. I’am trying to make my communication skills better tho cuz English is not my first language but yeah.
Edit: just got an invitation for a job interview wish me luck!!!
That’s great news, and fantastic timing! Good luck on the interview, though I’m sure you’ve got this.
Good luck with the interview!
Even if you aren’t going to work there for whatever reason, the first interview is normally what sets things in motion and makes other opportunities start popping up all around you.
I have no idea why it’s this way, but it’s my personal observation and what most people I know tell me, so based on lots of anecdotal evidence.
Yeah I’ve been in a few interview and yeah what you said about the first interview thing is right. At least every month I had one to two interviews and the last interviewer said that I need to improve on my English verbally like expressing my self, my ideas and less “umm/uhhh” moments.
Same boat here, haha. My spouse is a senior dev and mentors me when needed but even that isn’t helping. I’m just working voluntarily for someone that was my instructor but I am pretty much refactoring the code most of the time, lol.
