If you are here you are probably considering getting a PhD in Computer Science or another topic. While a think this is a great idea(!) I would like you to take some time reading this page to make sure you understand the advantages as well as the risks involved in getting into a PhD program.

The TLDR can probably be summarised as follows: This is not a degree for the faint-hearted.

🎓 What a PhD Really Is

A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is a research degree focused on creating new knowledge, not just learning existing knowledge.

It is thus radically different from any other university degree.
As a PhD student you will not necessarily just study books an pass exams, but focus more on doing independent original research, publishing and presenting your findings and finally writing and defending a doctoral thesis.

In other words, you will spend a lot of time reading, writing, creating knowledge and disseminate it. Essentially, having a PhD demonstrates that you possess a deep knowledge of your own specific field and can engage with other international experts as a peer.

It sounds great, doesn’t it? The issue is that you will probably spend more time failing than succeeding. In all likelihood, you will spend time coming up with ideas that are wrong, theorems that turn out to be false and you will have to redo everything all over again. This may create a breach in self confidence that makes you doubt whether you are actually cut out for it. Some people do not overcome this and eventually quit.

The main issue in my opinion is that a lot of students either underestimate the amount of work required, choose the wrong supervisor or the wrong topic, or do not understand the requirement for getting a PhD.

In some sense a PhD,

can be the best moment of your life,… or the worst

🔥 I have a PhD in “Making Mistakes”

One of the most precious life lessons I learned from my PhD is that

Failure happens when you try something new

If anyone ever mocked or criticised you for having failed at something don’t worry; Those who are never wrong have never tried anything challenging and they just do not understand the valuable lessons you learn when you realised you have done a mistake. I personally think I failed in my life more than I succeeded. In a sense, I have a PhD in making mistakes, and I am not ashamed of saying it.

Failure is just the the mechanism with which you learn and doing a PhD essentially means being being wrong, uncertain, or behind for long periods of times; perhaps months, perhaps years. This can be draining, daunting and dejecting, but doing essentially research means:

• Submit papers that get rejected ❌
• Run experiments that fail 💥
• Write code that doesn’t work 🐛
• Read things you don’t understand (yet) 🤯

But, if you can treat failure as data that can be used, confusion as progress, and rejection as part of life, then a PhD is for you. In other words, if failure challenges you and drives you forward, and if not knowing things excites you rather than frustrates you, then this path is for you.

🧠 The harsh truth of modern academia

The harsh truth is that undergraduate degrees are getting easier and easier to attain, on the other hand, PhDs are as demanding as ever.

When doing an undergraduate degree, you are safeguarded; Material is prepared for you, grades follow standardized metrics, and admission almost guarantees eventual graduation. A PhD, on the other hand, does not follow these rules; There is no guarantee of success.

There is also something to be said about The AI factor.

The AI is essentially a really good stochastic parrot. While it is very good at solving undergraduate home exercises, it is really bad at doing research. This is because the AI only regurgitates information that has been already provided, thus each time you try to push the AI to the boundaries of what is known it produces garbage.

This adds another layer of difficulty when transitioning from the B.Sc/M.Sc to a PhD be cause the unscrupulous use of AI has made undergraduates less trained to work critically.

🔱 The most important component of a PhD

The most important component in your PhD is

The relationship with your supervisor.

The supervisor is your main collaborator, the person you are going to work with for a long period of time and whose expertise and personality will strongly influence your work.

It is crucial that you find a supervisor whose research interests align with yours, someone you feel comfortable working with and someone whose mentoring style matches your needs.

When looking for a PhD, my suggestion is to state upfront what kind of topics you like and what kind of supervision you want.

My suggestion is not to negotiate on it because if this relationship fails, it is your PhD that will be in jeopardy.

On the other hand, while I think the supervisor is responsible for you, there is nothing a supervisor can do if you decide you do not want to do your part.

A bad or toxic supervisor can derail even a strong student, while a good supervisor can elevate an average student into an excellent one, but,
a good supervisor can do little if the student is not willing to pay heed to feedback and advice or simply not willing to do the work.

🌍 Moving abroad

If you are not a native English speaker, I strongly support the idea of doing a PhD in an English-speaking country or similar.

For a handful of reasons:

• these countries are typically the best at supporting research 🔬
• you will hone your English abilities 🇬🇧
• you will learn to interact with a wide variety of different people 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

To get a good PhD you need to be able to collaborate with different people as good ideas tend to arise in environments with a high level of diversity.

At the same time, doing a PhD while living abroad, confronting yourself with different cultures and learning a new language can become a daunting task.
Some people experience significant cultural shocks while pursuing their PhD, which can add up to all the other challenges you will be facing.

Making sure you like the country you are moving to before accepting a PhD offer is a good way of mitigating these risks.. even though a lot of people end up loathing the country they did their PhD in (lmao).

In the end, I can try to warn you about all the risks involved in doing a PhD, but the reality is that to learn what a PhD is you will have to do one.