Your Advice Requested

[entelein]

OK, so my dear friend Andy has a dilemma, and he thought it might be a good idea to bring the dilemma to you. Perhaps you've got some insight, some glimmer of truth, some bit of advice for the poor guy. He's wringing his hands, I tell you! He's worn pathways in the carpet from pacing back and forth each day. His nails are bitten to the quick, there's a few more grey hairs sprouting on his poor worried head.

Ignoring the fact that I am prone to hyperbole, here's the sitch:

Andy's got a decent job working as a programmer. He's been there a few years, does a great job with it. At his last review he was given glowing marks and a very nice raise, which I think he immediately spent all on video games (well, OK, maybe just a little bit of it). Job's going well, he's doing well, excellent. And then the next project comes along, and it's difficult. Things don't go so well, and suddenly he's called on the carpet for it. Despite assurances that he's got to do a few things better, ask more questions, work a bit more diligently, Andy suddenly feels as though his job is in danger. And it really is, you see, because things had been going so well, and now suddenly weren't. He feels a loss of trust, he's not sure he likes it so much there any more, and something becomes a little clearer to him: he's not really enjoying the programming biz all that much, even though he's pretty gosh darn good at it, and it pays well.

In the flurry of panic following his meeting with his boss, Andy considers his options. He could quit, subverting his company's attempts to sack him for this anomalously bad project - but then what would he do? He could look for another job, of course, but his doubts about really enjoying programming work makes this option seem daunting. Another idea occurs to him: he could work towards getting a PhD, continuing work in artificial intelligence, something he had been studying previous to his working for his current company.

E-mails were exchanged with an old professor, who seemed pleased to hear from him again, and offered to consider his placement for the coming season - he had spots available in the program. In addition, he invited Andy over to the university for a tour, for a better sense of what he'd be getting into.

He just got back yesterday from his short trip, and he sounded pretty damn relaxed and at ease when I talked to him on the phone. Memories of being at that school previously were good memories, and it was nice to meet with his old professor and discuss the program he'd be entering into. (I think it also helped that there seemed to be a plethora of pretty girls on the train back home. I think he might agree that it made his day a little brighter.)

But there's this dilemma, see. Would he want to give up the relative stability and good pay of a job for a new life in the direction he'd undertaken in university previously? Would he want to go to university and earn significantly less with an assistantship, studying something he's not entirely sure he can use in the afterlife, as Dr. Andy?

Here's his pros and cons, as he sees them now:

Staying at his current job

+ He'd get to stay in his current home. No moving, no having to sell or sublet.

+ Good pay, fairly stable job situation (he's been kicking ass and taking names on the current project)

- Long hours - he wouldn't get to go out as much as he'd like to, and the guy's a film buff, people. Seeing movies is one of his favorite things to do. He also likes to do role-playing and see friends more frequently than he does now.

- Programming is not a serious passion of his, in his words: "it's not especially exciting."

Pursuing the PhD

- Finding a place to live there, which would necessitate selling/subletting

- Earning significantly less through assistantships than at current job

- He might not be any good at research, which you sort of need if you're going to complete all the requirements for a PhD

+ He'd have the student lifestyle again, infinitely more social and exciting, really.

+ It would be a change for him - three years of work *not* regulated by profit.

That seems to be enough information to at least start with. What might you do? Do you have further questions for Andy? A similar story or experience that might help him make the decision? He's got another week or so before he needs to make an early decision, but he finds himself really torn at times. The risks, the investment, the security - these all seem to be factors that weigh pretty heavily against each other and leave him with a personal stalemate. The university would love to have him begin in October, which leaves a rushed one month notice to his current job. He could conceivably start any time during the year, but if he waits a year, the professor he's worked with might have moved on to another university by then, and the positions that are open now may not be several months from now. It feels like a now-or-forever-hold-your-peace situation, but given that it'd be so rushed for now, how wise would it be for him to throw himself into a doctorate at this point?

What's going to clinch it for him? Suggestions?

Comments

[javina.livejournal.com]

It seems like he's soured on his job just because he's hit a difficult patch. But there's a life lesson in it - work is not always easy and sometimes you have to bite the bullet and work as hard as you can. The upside is that he'll gain respect, which he certainly won't if he quits, for whatever reason.

AI is a complicated field as well, and he's bound to run up against projects that he finds challenging. I think he needs to learn he has the strength to do it before he turns in that direction.

If AI is his passion, his vocation, his reason for living, then absolutely he should go to school. But he has to deal with the mess he's got first.

[eeyorerin]

Hm. It sounds like both paths are pretty equally challenging, and pretty equally tempting. When I make a big decision like that, I generally need more time, so I don't know what advice I could give about short-term decision making.

I think I'd probably stay at the job and investigate grad school more seriously and have more time to make a decision. That's not really an option, I suppose.

[fieryjane.livejournal.com]

Some things to consider...is he single or married? If he's single and looks to marry eventually, it may be better for him to go get his doctorate now so that he won't have to cause stress for the marriage/family that he would if he did it later. If he's married, maybe he should stick with his job just so that he can help support the family and not cause the stress of him going for his PhD. Of course if they have no kids, that may be easier to pursue a phD, as long as his wife is understanding. All in all, the situation seems easier if he is indeed single (though still a hard one to make).

I also agree with the two people (at this time) that had posted before me...he may have just hit a rough patch at this otherwise great job. In that case, he shouldn't give it up. Just get passed that project and on to the next one.

[neschek.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone who has recently embarked upon his own odyssey into higher-higher ed, headed straight for a dubious future of uncertain earning potential, I say go for it!! Get that degree! Get those hotties!

[luvnisa187.livejournal.com]

PhD

[gupfee.livejournal.com]

This is Andy in the UK, right?

ANDY: Run, do not walk, do not pass go, to that University and sign up NOW!! Three years is nothing, a drop in the proverbial bucket o' time. Look at it this way: if you don't go, where will you be in three years? Making good money but not really enjoying your life to the fullest, living in the same place staring at the same 4 walls, working on yet another programming project that may or may not interest you? And if you go do the PhD thing, your life will be completely different, and for the better. Think of the opportunities! Think of the high level of intellectual discourse! Think of the coeds! :D

We are all afraid somewhat of change, of that upheaval that pulls us up by the roots and plunks us down in a new situation, where our old tricks no longer have value and we get that churning, flopping motion in our stomach that makes us lay awake at night and wonder WTF we did. But then, finding your place on a new map has a drama and a purpose that will carry you through the tougher spots. Go for it, man. Don't let yourself mourn for what "might have been".

I'm rooting for you, dude. And anyone who can put together something like Mephista will have no problems with research :P

[(Anonymous)]

If he went for the PhD option, who knows where this may lead, probably bigger and better things. He doesn't have to stay, and will probably make excellent contacts. Taking one little step back (less money) isn't always a bad thing, if this situation can propel him forward into a more desireable direction. Noone should stay at a job because of the money.

I quit my job to become a massage therapist. Yeah I am broke, but the potential is enormous.

[cerulgalactus.livejournal.com]

If it is the Andy Im thinking of, then he should hit the PhD trail, cause after Mephista, anything else would be a doddle.

[(Anonymous)]

And here I am, on the opposite side of the fence from Gup for a change.

I *was* Andy, practically speaking, six years ago. Looking at the dull and dreary prospect of a nauseating grind of a job shoving papers around a desk, arguing with rich people over money, dealing with narrow-minded boss types, banging heads with other soulless professionals in a job/career that I wasn't even sure if I was EVER going to enjoy. On the other hand, I had just finished a degree and an advanced apprenticeship in my primary vocation of choice (film and video production) which provided me the opportunity to feed MY insatiable film buff muse, as well as getting practical experience at minimal pay in a job which would barely ever hope to put food on the table, but which I knew I would enjoy.

I chose what I believed at the time to be the "chicken's" path -- law school, and the "safe" career -- and have found that it has taught me a boatload more about life lessons, the value of a sense of responsibility, and a genuine, slow-building but infinitely rewarding and more subtle sense of self-worth and self-gratification, than if I had wantonly followed my muse a while back and mortgaged my future for the sake of immediate pleasures in the present.

Far from being the burnt-out and embittered hack that I feared I would become, I learned to accept the good, bad, and monotonous aspects of my chosen career with as much grace and perspective as I could muster. I have learned in the process that, when all is said and done, it is the impact that I will have on OTHER people, not my own immediate self-gratification, that will really mean more to me while I'm alive as well as to my own sense of legacy. Meanwhile, many (but not all!!!) of my college friends who have gone on to pursue advanced academic degrees and/or artistic passions seem to be as unhappy and vaguely dissatisfied now as they were when they were originally looking to flee that first "dead-end", "soulless" job.

In short, I think the Coupland Gen X myth is just that -- a myth. Turning your back on the institutions of society and seeking a "pure" life of the mind or communing with nature will not guarantee you happiness. However, having the sense that you faced up to and overcame the minor adversities, one slow and agonizingly grinding day at a time, just might.

Ozy

[gupfee.livejournal.com]

Film, schmilm, we're talking SCIENCE here. Having spent many years at the MIT AI Lab (albeit in an administrative capacity) I know the potential for work in the field. The big questions about AI are just beginning to be answered; this is no arena for a lazy artiste/dilletant filled with ennui. You can't really compare the two decisions (at least in the generalized way you've tried to show here.)

I stand by my opinion. Andy is better off pursuing his Ph.D. than languishing in a job that may or may not provide satisfaction for him. It's not a question of "turning his back on the institutions of society". It's choosing a discipline that is only going to get more important as the 21st century progresses. There's an incredible need in this society for highly trained, technical people--AI as a field gives us that AND a vision for the future. Andy has a chance to not just embrace the institutions of society, but to create new ones.

[(Anonymous)]

And I stand by mine. While it might be a noble enough goal on the surface to want to create new institutions of science or thought or art or whatever, the fact is that the carefully constructed and (for the most part) logical and sustainable and necessary infrastructure that has ALREADY been created by preceding generations in our society is beginning to crumble across the board, because there are not enough people willing to put in the necessary time and effort to maintain them. Thus, we get everything from corrupt and apathetic corporations afflicted with their own sense of bloat, to highways and buildings and integrated information systems and other once-mighty feats of civil engineering which are beginning to disintegrate under the strain of too much overuse and not enough interest in regular quality maintenance and improvement.

We are, grossly speaking, an over-educated, over-analyzed, self-absorbed, and thus, largely complacent, society. The endless search for and overwhelming thirst for the pursuit of abstract knowledge without any attempt to put that knowledge to concrete use has created an unsustainable surplus of professional students, academes, and researchers who are so far out on the cutting edge of their hermetically-sealed little fields of knowledge that they are no longer relatable to society as a whole. I'm not saying that Andy (or anyone else) runs the risk of becoming one of these sorts, I'm just saying that in the aggregate, we need far less of these people out there. Economically, we no longer have the resources as a society to support them. And as far as PERSONAL satisfaction goes, I have yet to meet a devoted academe at some advanced stage of education who wasn't either: (a) even MORE bitter and dissatisfied about his or her life than he/she was before schooling resumed, and thus proceeds to take it out on every one of their fellow professionals via a series of vituperative, nasty scorched-earth attacks barely concealed as "peer review" or "critique", or (b) tenured, and thus past the point-of burnout and well along the path to laziness and a failure to continue to intellectually challenge themselves.

I've gone WAY afield here from the original convo, I know it. But as broken as society is, I think academia is broken even MORE seriously, with the phalanxes of largely useless Ph.D's being the primary problem, and it is making no efforts to fix either itself, or any other societal problem which it was allegedly created to address.

[gupfee.livejournal.com]

http://www.ai.mit.edu/research/spinoffs/spinoffs.shtml

That's just from one lab at one American university. I'm sure CMU, Berkeley, and many other places have similar lists.

AI puts food on the table in this household. Ain't nothing abstract about that paycheck.

One of these days, I'll have hubby explain to you how AI is fixing the crumbling infrastructure that is our airport system.

Sorry, but usually your arguments are well-thought-out and defendable. But I know more about this particular topic than you do, and I'm afraid you're just plain wrong here.

Go pick on the liberal arts PhDs and their endless dissertations on Jane Austen. The AI people are doing just fine by society, thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, Wellsie!

My advice and a dollar will get you a Coke, but here's what I'd say to Andy:

Stay with the job and reap the rewards while they last. Programming can be downright boring if you're any good at it, but being really good at it does improve your chances of staying employed. Considering the volatility of IT, you might find yourself out of work tomorrow anyway. It may seem like a now-or-forever-hold-your-peace situation, but there's always time for the masochism of pursuing a PhD. (My mother was in her 60's when she got hers.) "Exciting" is not the word I would use to describe the lifestyle of a grad student, unless you consider stress to be exciting. I really don't see how there will be more time for socializing and going to movies. (Movies aren't exactly cheap, either!) I advise against this path unless you have a specific goal that cannot be achieved without a PhD.

Oh, and one other thing (this is for YOU, Wellsie):

[(Anonymous)]

GET BACK ON THE FLOOR, YOU IDIOT!

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Um, ouch?

Being in the liberal arts does not make one a slacker, or value-less in this society. I mean, relevance is relevance, but perception is reality as well, and it's starting to really chap my hide that just because theatre or literature or the 'arts' in general don't appear to be immediately solving a problem, that they have no validity in this world.

I mean, if we wanted to deconstruct relevance and selfishness, I am sure I could point you to many problem-solvers, movers, and shakers who beat their wives or snort coke or who do not use their turn signals when driving.

There's give and take in every life, and it seems pretty petty/short-sighted to assess relevance or value based on a profession or on a course of study. Whatever happened to looking at the whole?

If I truly believed that I had no (or diminished, or significantly less) relevance in the real world because I am involved in (and actually make part of my living as a direct result of) the liberal arts, I never would have met so many of the people that I know now, I would not have been as well-equipped to deal with coaching high school students in the arts, I would've never gotten up the guts to do Lockjaw. In other words, I would not have been able to improve the quality of life for other people as much as I have. I don't have mathematical/engineering/medical talents, I have talents in areas that improve communications between people, findings connections in human behaviors and weaving them together to make art.

Love begets love, you know? And sometimes I really just don't feel the love for my chosen pursuits. It's very very frustrating.

Endless dissertations on Jane Austen? It's nice to see how the liberal arts can be condensed so neatly and accurately. :P