Every person with a Phd that I in real life has only improved their career or business with it (outside of academia)

I'm a high school drop out. All I do is work and go through research. My work has me running mainly into physics related PhDs, with the occasional biochemistry or chemical engineering sort. Only two neuroscientists. That population was 50% okay.

My only source of insecurity is that these types are fond of opining about areas they've clearly just sponged up bits of bullshit about, and otherwise have invested little effort or thought into, and generally they fall back on their education and will not submit to being told how it is but someone that's spent their life being a real generalist. It's a vibe and an implicit behavioral range that signals perceived relationship.

If I, or anyone else around, had PhD after their name, they'd be much less loose with their words and likely stay silent. And they'd certainly not only learn after being told, but display the submission that most accurately reflect their actual state. Unfortunately with a prolonged lack of respect or meaningful response to stimuli, the mind turns to dominance and submission. Power. People respond to one thing, and one thing only. Power. The sole reason for having a PhD is power. Often that power manifests as the intellectual security and freedom to throw your brains out and fail to bother using them ever again.

...

supervise glass washers for 20/hour

going through research doesnt mean you are capable of conversing with a phd from a decent school on their area of expertise, they too go through research but have better access to it and spent 6-8 years of their life building a foundation you dont have

I'm a realist.
>on their area of expertise
Seems to also ignore what I said in my post.

My foundation is something most people don't have, can't really understand, and wouldn't want. But I know how to use it, and it gets results. I don't have many concerns about foundational work.

>and will not submit to being told how it is but someone that's spent their life being a real generalist.

They probably just think you're retarded.
And, regardless of whether you're right or they are, one of you is so much smarter than the other that trying to explain things to one another is pointless. You'll just be talking past one another.

Personally, I'd guess that on average a person with a PhD is more knowledgeable than a high school dropout. So my money would be on you just having a bad case of the Dunning-krueger effect, but, hey, maybe you're the exception.

I've found that people who unironically refer to themselves as "realists" are usually retarded.

So what is your job exactly

Are you encountering physics PhDs talking about Psychology or Religion or something?

>janitor in a university

PhD chemistry student here.

Its hard getting a job, but they exist and they are usually pretty sick (100K+ starting). granted, most of your 20s are gone by the time you finish.

The students who are interested in a professorship will most likely never make it. I cant imagine the amount of dedication you would need for the subject to go through PhD, multiple post-docs, then a mere chance at professorship if you are lucky. being a prof will make you $$ if you play the game right, but as i said most people who are in that position arent in it for the money.

industry for me. multiple lab mates of mine have graduated and found a 100K+ starting position within 3 months. I think ill be alright*.

* i am also picking up a few engineering skills along the way.

PhD in chemistry ask me whatever. Defended in 2014

you don't meet many investment bankers do you?

what did you study

Electroactive polymers

Synthesis and characterization so I made all my own stuff and then all the spectroscopy and electrochemistry.

woh woh woh i remember you user.

you do something very similar to me. synthesize electrolytes and ionic conducting materials then do all the spectroscopy and electrochemistry as well.

how is the job market?

also, i remember saying you work for a company now? do you mind sharing which one?

funny enough, I may be starting a project synthesizing a polymer electrolyte. Any electrochemistry skills you suggest I pick up before I graduate? I am mostly familiar with CV, assembling full coin cells for charge/discharge, and EIS.

I guess the market is good, I still have a job and so do my old lab mates.

I'll spare on the specifics but it's in the sf bay area. One skill that's pretty important in differential pulse voltammetry, that was my bread and butter for determining HOMO LUMO levels. Depending on the type of material where you are oxidizing or reducing, not just shuttling lithium or sodium through pores I suggest electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. I never learned it but if I ever go back to conjugated materials, it's pretty informative from a fundamental standpoint.

Also pay good attention to the details in how you are casting your film and treating them physically and chemically. Little shit can have big effects on the properties of the films.

thats awesome to hear. All i ever hear around me is doom and gloom about how jobs are scarce and students dont know where they are going to end up. At the same time, people have told me im in a very good position working in electrolyte synthesis as well as characterization and testing full cells of my material. I assume you are in agreement.

Maybe this is a little forward, but if you got fired from your job today, do you think it would be relatively easy to find another job in your field?

differential pulse voltammetry sounds like something I would be very very interested in using to evaluate my materials. thank you.

also, what do you think the most relevant graduate coursework employers in this field look for? I am working towards a PhD in chemistry with a focus on inorganic chemistry. What are some book-smart skills you apply regularly on the job?

If I was fired or quit right now I would be better off finding a job than when I was in gradschool since I now have several years industry experience from initial level materials development and testing up to pilot scale production on hundreds of kilos. The materials and problems I had to deal with in my present job are issues traditional Li batteries don't have to contend with so that gives me an extra boost too. Searching for jobs in general however sucks regardless and it's always best to just know people. I would also go look for jobs outside the bay area just because your money goes so much further and the salaries really aren't all that different even if you consider cost of living.

I don't think a lot of employers care about your book smarts. They want to see that you have solved many very different problems reliably or that you know how to learn about new things rapidly, hence problem solving and creativity. The half of knowledge is to know where to find it. Doing things yourself without people having to tell you is a plus, or at the very least knowing who and how to ask what in the fuck your supposed to do on a day to day basis depending on the job.

>HOMO

Did you have a strong publication record in graduate school? how many were high impact?

There is a lot of back and forth about this on both the internet and in the lab. what was your starting salary at a company in the bay? what can someone applying for a job in this field expect for a starting salary out of grad school?

what do you think distinguished you from other applicants applying for the same job? (if there was any)

Thanks dude. I'm in currently in Riverside btw. definitely looking to move out of the IE when i graduate. im actually preparing my written document for my qualifying exams as we speak.

In Europeasantland, if you have a PhD, you are considered a researcher, which makes every single employer think you are either too lazy to work or unsuited for enterprise activity.

I had three out and two were being written or reviewed at the time spread out between RSC and ACS. I also had two patents and one under review. I don't know or really care about impact, knowledge is knowledge, who cares where it is as long as your work isnt shit or repetitive.

I started at 88k, with 21000 shares of stock over a four year vestment plan where I get a quarter of them each year. Now I'm at 97.5 and have received additional stocks up to 38,000. I usually get a 10% bonus and depending how this year ends out, more cash or stock bonuses. I received a few offers before taking this one. 72k at Boeing (St. Louis), 65k at PPG (Pittsburgh), 100ish at applied materials (San Jose) and then 125k at Intel (Portland) and one at Arkema (philadelphia) that was in the 80ks. Friend of mine did the PDP at BASF and was paid about 76k during rotations. My wife makes 96k but has way better benefits than me.

I gave a few presentations at conferences, had patents and during gradschool, worked with BASF for about half my PhD so I knew a lot of people in there and Drew a bit of experience from them. A lot of my work was essentially on their time tables and standards and followed what they needed or wanted (at the time my friend and I knew we were essentially cheap labor but we milked the absolute shit out of it).

Good luck to you!

Also forgot to mention, my work and resume detailed the properties I tuned and the synthetic and characterization skill sets. A lot of applicants we're really great at one thing but knew fuck all about other stuff. Depends on industry I guess but they want to see you spread out over a variety of skills and do well with them. Or at least we'll enough it garners publishable data.

Sounds awesome man. Thanks for all the advice!