BS in Math and Physics Masters in Physics what to do!?!?!? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mechknoll
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 12:52:35 am
content: Hi All,I am in a reevaluation phase of my life/career, and I could really use your help!!!! I just had my 25th birthday last week and am currently pursuing a PhD in Physics so heres my dilemma. I love electronics! I have spent 3 years working in quantum optics and biomedical optics and thoroughly enjoyed prototyping and experimenting. Well, now my research has taken a turn to the biological side... I know AAAAAAHHHHHSo I received a fellowship to do neutron scattering and to look at bi-layer lipid membranes and to investigate the hydrodynamics of protein channels. I have no prior experience but that never stops me. So fine I have taken the challenge head on and am making some progress. I am learning atomic force microscopy and sample preparation everything is going well. I guess my question is this... I still love electronics, I want to own a business and take products to market. I do not want to work for "The Man"but want to be an entrepreneur or work in a think tank like environment. What does it look like for me??? What would you do in my situation? I have 2-3 more years for a PhD. Quit??? i also have an undergraduate minor in engineering....

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 01:09:28 am
content: Depends on where you are. I used to work for a pharmaceutical company that specialized in eye care and they always seemed to have a need for people who knew optics. And the tie in to biomedical stuff would help you too.Perhaps you could find a way to specialize yourself in laser eye surgery?

author: mechknoll
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 01:11:50 am
content: Thanks, and I just noticed another post earlier today with near the same problem.

author: mechknoll
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 01:14:28 am
content: Yea quantum optics is where the real fun is at... generating entangled photon pairs, spooky action at a distance and with FPGA's the field is only getting more accessible! Soon you could have your own setup for less than a thousand.... maybe this answers my question..

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 01:17:37 am
content: The way many people handle such things is to simply do electronics as a hobby in their own time and work on their own projects, the "midnight engineer" as they are often called. And with the ease and hype of crowd source funding, and the opportunities available today to take product ideas to market easily, everyone is doing it.Then if such a hobby project becomes successful, you quit whatever day job (or whatever) you are doing, and do that full time.I think you'd be foolish to just quit your PhD and try to pursue an electronics business from scratch, the odds of failure are high.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 02:01:39 am
content: try 'bending' your phd...try to see if the problem you are tackling maybe has an electronic solution.i know someone that did that. he was in dna research, i beleive it was called biochemistry or molecular chemistry or something) .Whenever they needed to make the gel plates for dna analysis ( i may be getting this wrong , this is way out of my field) they used some kind of current source to send a current through the plate to get the stripes to form. This was a clunky current source with analog meter and potentiometer, that everyone was using at the time because they didn't know better.He learned some electronics by himself, got some advice from electronics people and collected enough know how to build his own current source.By the end of his molecular chemistry phd he had built a very nice programmable current source, built better gel plates ( something with electrode fictures) and could produce cleaner and more consistent results. after graduation he sold the rights to his current source to some biochemistry instrument maker and walked away with a handsome amount of money.today he makes instruments for bio labs. his chemistry know how allows him to talk to practitioners of that field and allows him to understand what their problems are. he then sees if he can come up with an instrument to tackle the problem.

author: Alexei.Polkhanov
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 02:03:38 am
content: Quote from: mechknoll on September 19, 2013, 12:52:35 amLooks like you about to get stuck in academia. If you stay there till your late 30-s or 40-s and do some good research you can get place as scientific adviser on some company's board or start your own company or something in between. It is always better to be in Academia and keep making connections in industry before you see a good chance to make move. I have seen lot of personal success stories along these lines.Corporations are entirely different world so you may never succeed in a "think tank" full of egos and career-hungry psychopaths that not exactly into serious research.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 03:57:56 am
content: Quote from: mechknoll on September 19, 2013, 12:52:35 amMr. Mechknoll,I was in your shoes a long time ago, deciding to pursuit a PhD in Physics, or not. But "what I would do" is not interesting to you. Just because my eye glasses fits me rather well, I cannot say to someone "there, here is a pair of glasses that serves me well, and you should see as clearly through them as I do.".What you said in your post told me you may not be as committed as necessary, and your heart may not be fully in it. OR, you are not separating "like this to be" vs "what this really is." My observation may well be wrong. You know that answer better than I.I think deep down you know where youwantto head. I am trying to encourage you to face your own interest with courage and honesty. Honesty meaning not letting your desire influence with your perception of reality. "Would I get a career that I like to think I would." Sometimes, we like to see the world as we want it to be, and we make decisions based on what we want to believe "that is how the world works." I think that clutter is what is preventing you from making the choice to go with the decision you already know is best.You and I are both in Physics (for me, is "were" anyway), we know how to dig behind the dusk and see the picture. Behind that dusk is "what is", "how much does it cost (not in money terms) to get there", "how much do I really want to be there", and "do I really want to be there". I think you know that. I think you like to reaffirm. But, let me say this - if you are good enough to get a scholarship for PhD program in Physics, you are capable of seeing behind the dusk better then 99% of the people in the world. So what if that guy found that pair of glasses perfect for him, it does not affect if that pair of glasses will fit you. I am confident you will make the right choice.My best wishes to you.Rickps: I had my reservation about posting this after writing. I sincerely want to help, to share with you what must drive this is YOU; but this came off sounding some what "preachie" and conceded. I sincerely want to help and I hope my wording will not interfere with getting that across.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2013, 05:08:47 am
content: If you have already started your PhD, finish, don't drop, it. The world, and that includes the business world, loves finishers, not quitters.Second, when you are your own boss later you will also have to do things you actually don't like. For example, dealing with tax bureaucracy, employees and suppliers, or - heaven forbid - those pesky customers. This "think tank like environment" you dream about might not even exists, but if it is your very own think tank, then still someone has to pay the bills. And that one is you then. It is not all roses, coddling pink unicorns, and sitting around the campfire and singing Kumbaya. You might rethink that dream environment and look at more realistically at the world out there before you take a decision.