If you are here you are probably considering getting a PhD i 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.

TLDR : This is not a degree for the faint-hearted.

🎓 What a PhD Really Is

A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is rather different from anything you have probably experience so far in your B.Sc./M.Sc. in that it is a research degree and is focused on doing research as opposed to “just” learning existing knowledge.

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.

A central feature of a research degree is failure. More specifically, it is hard (but possible) to fail when you are doing something everyone knows how to do. On the other hand, it is very easy to fail when you’re walking on uncharted territory, as it were.

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 means you have to be comfortable with the process of trying, failing and repeating again until you reach the end of the line. You will probably spend more time failing than succeeding and this dragged on for long periods of time can be very frustrating and demotivating.

This may create a breach in self confidence that makes you constantly doubt whether you are actually cut out for it. Some people do not overcome this and eventually quit.

A lot of students either underestimate the amount of work required, misunderstand the rules of the game, choose the wrong supervisor or the wrong topic, or do not understand the requirement for getting a PhD.

With this said, a PhD does not have necessarily to be a drag, it could actually be the best time of your life. This provided you make constant progress and deliver on the research in a timely manner.

🔥 Failure is Part of the Game

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; A hammer left in the shed never bends a nail..

Failure isn’t the outcome; it’s the mechanism through which you learn. Doing a PhD essentially means being wrong, uncertain, or behind for long periods of times; perhaps months, perhaps years. This can be very stressful given the fact that time is limited, there is a thesis to write and time will be against you. All of this while your

• submitted papers might get rejected ❌
• experiments could fail 💥
• code could break 🐛

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 gives you that adrenaline boost, drives you forward, and if not knowing things excites you rather than frustrates you, then this path is for you.

🫡 You are in Charge of your PhD!

The relationship with your supervisor is one of the most important things of your PhD. My recommendation is to find a supervisor whose research interests align with yours, someone you feel comfortable working with and someone whose mentoring style matches your needs.

The common guidelines from most universities is that “your supervisor is responsible for you” and that “your supervisor should ensure you get a PhD”. However, in practice, I have never seen any supervisor bearing the consequences for having neglected a PhD student. In fact, if the relationship student/supervisor deteriorates — for whatever reason — it is not the supervisor that gets into trouble, it is the student who will risk not getting a PhD.

This is why I suggest the students to learn to be in charge of their PhD. By this I mean they should take ownership of their research: set priorities, make day-to-day decisions, and make sure the project moves forward. By being in charge I don’t mean you have to do everything on your own, I mean if something is not quite right you have the duty to (e.g.) raise it with your supervisor as opposed to expecting that your supervisor already knows everything about all your deadlines, your theorems, your expectations and so on..

For example, students often say things like, “_But nobody told me that” or, “_My advisor didn’t tell me this.” Your supervisor is not meant to tell you everything. Many students treat their supervisor as their sole north star, or sometimes as their boss, assuming that everyone else’s opinion or direction matters less. That’s a serious mistake: your supervisor is neither your boss nor the one person that has all the knowledge required for your research.

A good student should always take accountability and be responsible for their own research.

🧠 The Harsh Truth about University Degrees

I am going to be very direct here, but frank! As an undergrad student you are considered a customer to the university and the university is essentially your service provider which heavily relies on student numbers for its own survival. This places the undergrad student at the centre of the attention allowing students to often get their own way when it comes to grades, homework assignments and exams.

This changes drastically the moment the student does not pay the institution anymore, but the institution pays the student to do research. Suddenly, you don’t have all the rights you had before and you are going to have way more pressure on you than you have ever experienced so far. This adds another layer of difficulty when transitioning from the B.Sc/M.Sc.

This is acerbated by the fact the AI is currently causing disruption across the whole sector and universities don’t yet know how to deal with it.
The AI is a really good stochastic parrot — good a regurgitating information — but not really good at creating new. As a result, the disruption is — for now — circumscribed in the undergrad degrees where it’s easier to use it to solve homework assessment, group projects and theses.

In essence the AI has made undergraduates less trained to work critically which makes it harder for them to transition to a degree that requires a more creativity, focus and sustained pace.

🌍 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…