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Anonymous09/22/25, 13:47No.16792899/scg/ - STEM career general
cure for autism version
Previous Thread: >>>16752864
This thread exists to ask questions regarding careers associated to STEM.
>Discussion on academia-based career progression
>Discussion on penetrating industry from academia
>Or anything in relation to STEM employment or development within STEM academia!
>If you have a question, before posting, read some of the older posts and ,if you can, try to answer their questions on your post. That way the thread isn't an endless log of unanswered questions.
Resources for protecting yourself from academic marxists:
>https://www.thefire.org/ (US)
>https://www.jccf.ca/ (Canada)
Information resource:
>https://sciencecareergeneral.neocities.org/
>*The Chad author is seeking additional input to diversify the content into containing all STEM fields. Said author regularly views these /scg/ threads.
No anons have answered your question? Perhaps try posting it here:
>https://academia.stackexchange.com/
An archive of some of the previous editions of /scg/:
http://warosu.org/sci/thread/15740454
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Replies
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Anon09/22/25, 14:12No.16792924
is academia just about sucking old men dick and stroking their ego constantly? can i migrate to application fields like government and research offices full time or will i be stuck in consulting hell for them?
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Anon09/22/25, 15:08No.16792979
What's the worst aspect of your academic job?For me it's the location. I don't live in yet another city with 85% male demographics in the dateable age bracket.
I can tolerate the long hours, shit pay and even the terrible office politics, but what's even the point of slaving away at this shit job if I cannot even feel like I'm building myself a future?
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Anon09/22/25, 19:54No.16793265
More bad news from the UK.
>The shadow economy behind the international student boom
https://archive.is/TRFFE
>For Melath, who now campaigns against the exploitation of international students, the problem is some unregulated agencies that sell foreign students a rose-tinted version of life in the UK. Agents say, “You will easily find a job. When you work 20 hours you will get this much money. This much you can save. This much you can pay for rent,” he adds. “But when they arrive here, everything is entirely different.”
>Universities in the UK and elsewhere have come to rely on international students like Melath, who pay around three times as much as their domestic counterparts to study the same courses.How long before the entire thing implodes?
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Anon09/23/25, 17:35No.16794340
>scg is dead
Is this a recession indicator?
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Anon09/23/25, 18:01No.16794373
>be me, be student
>always something to do. work like an animal
>be me, be corporate slave
>never anything to do. literally do nothing all day
Why is life like this?
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Anon09/23/25, 18:06No.16794381
I'm a professional student.
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Anon09/23/25, 19:58No.16794518
should I just kil myself?
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Anon09/23/25, 21:08No.16794575
>Information resource:
>>https://sciencecareergeneral.neocities.org/
>>*The Chad author is seeking additional input to diversify the content into containing all STEM fields. Said author regularly views these /scg/ threads.
This has now 100,306 views, not bad for an underground document that is almost 5 years old. I had no idea it would be that widely read when I started out back then. Also, a lot of credits go to all the contributors.t.FAQ editor.
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Anon09/24/25, 10:11No.16794988
How concerned should an EE prospect be right now? Im just taking calc and general physics/chemistry at a community college right now but my plan is for electrical engineering.
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Anon09/25/25, 20:09No.16796401
My cs teacher doesn't know the full form of GPU :/Is it over ? I have decided to ropemaxx if I won't be able to immigrate.>T. Energy engineering
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Anon09/25/25, 20:47No.16796439
Many /sci/ graduates end up on finance and consulting. So we have some bad news:
>Accenture to ‘exit’ staff that cannot be retrained for age of AI
https://archive.is/GMB11
>Accenture has reduced its global workforce by more than 11,000 in the past three months and warned staff that more would be asked to leave if they cannot be retrained for the age of artificial intelligence.
Sounds like stealth firings
>The IT consulting group on Thursday detailed an $865mn restructuring programme and an outlook for the year ahead that reflects continuing sluggish corporate demand for consulting projects and a clampdown on spending within the US federal government.
Definitely stealth firings. Avoid at all cost.
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Anon09/26/25, 02:57No.16796761
>BS in chem eng, MS in comp sci
>wanted to pivot to software dev or some shit
>market is obviously bad, very bad for people with little or zero experience
>could go back to old career, easily go back to making $160+ again but the hopes of ever having hybrid or wfh is zero
>and would need to move to the other side of town which sucks
Sucks, bros. I was very good at my old job (advanced process control) but I wanted to do tech shit. Unfortunately my skills generally mean you MUST be on-site at a refinery/chemical plant. Unless I can find some optimization / oil logistics engineering position in an office somewhere but my skills are not directly transferable to that but the coding background helps...
idk what a good timeline is to give up on tech. I've only been applying for a month. Give it until December until I throw in the towel and just go back to oil and gas shenanigans? fuck.
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Anon09/26/25, 06:46No.16796881
25 years old here with ChemEng degree who landed a job as a lab assistant at a food processing factory.
I'm bored to tears and I've been thinking of either switching to MechEng next or pursuing my childhood dream to get into Aerospace. Any advice?
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Anon09/26/25, 13:12No.16797082
Need some recommendation. I’m leaving the military soon and want to know the best route of study as I’ll have my undergraduate and graduate paid for with living expenses covered. I was thinking electric engineering but open to ideas. My experience is relevant in that maybe it can land me internships since I’m a medical equipment repair tech. So what kind of STEM fag should I become?
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Anon09/27/25, 08:53No.16798091
The FAQ strongly recommends doing a postdoc in a national lab in Japan, is this still the case? I wouldn't want to emigrate there but a postdoc could be a fun experience
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Anon09/28/25, 00:14No.16798909
is there any hope of a real prospect in STEM as someone who isnt very smart. Like severe ADHD + relatively low IQ we're discussing here.
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Anon09/28/25, 03:45No.16799021
What happened to the data science job market?I have a BSc in physics and always got told that I could always work as a data scientist. Now that's a fucking lie? What do I do now?
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Anon09/28/25, 04:24No.16799034
the professor who barely passed me finna died
how do I get a job with 60% marks?
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Anon09/28/25, 06:55No.16799132
why do I have to study retarded neuron shit and activation functions for Deep Learning? Won't Python do all the work?
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Anon09/29/25, 00:07No.16799801
engineering and stem in general has too many underachieving male applicants trying to get a hecking high paying job tbqh. unironically enjoy female students more atp because the cultural filter stops dummies from polluting programs trying to force themselves through
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Anon09/29/25, 12:52No.16800364
>mfw it's another day of having to report bad results to my supervisor
>mfw my supervisor will get mad at me, even though I'm literally just doing the experiments he instructed me to do, word by word
>mfw he doesn't even allow me to do my own experiments and explore my own ideas despite it being my "Ph.D"
>mfw every time an experiment goes wrong he accuses me of sabotaging his own ideas, so I have to waste months carefully crafting huge reports to showcase exactly where everything goes wrong with his experiments, step by step
>mfw I'm too invested to drop out because I have nothing to show for my 3 years of PhD, so nobody would hire me
>mfw I cannot even change supervisors or even complain because despite the supervisor having basically no academic pedigree to speak of, he is chummy with all the directors I would have to seek help fromah, the joys of a PhD at a ELITE German university
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Anon09/29/25, 14:15No.16800440
people keep throwing offers at me but I don't really know if any of them are any good
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Anon09/29/25, 16:10No.16800571
after how long does my phd stop being a millstone around my neck? I wish i stopped after msc like everybody else.
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Anon09/30/25, 02:03No.16801227
Are academia and the government really as bad as everyone says it is? Because I absolutely hated the corporate job I had before grad school.
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Anon09/30/25, 11:14No.16801624
To anyone who's ever done it,
>Is it worth doing a minor in an unrelated field during your phd
Right now I'm in Japan doing a PhD in Energy Engineering (Master's was Mechanical) and I'm considering doing a minor in Mathematical Finance so I don't completely lock myself into academia later on (I'm 25). Does it take a lot of time out of your research/coursework, and would it be a good idea in the first place?
t. only got up to Calc 3 and have no econ experience
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Anon09/30/25, 18:32No.16802026
>America’s Elite Universities Have Lost Their Way
https://archive.is/HcCY4
>If you doubt that America’s elite universities have lost their way, consider that, as part of a settlement with the Trump administration, Harvard is considering building trade schools. Whatever Harvard’s comparative advantage is — and it has many! — it is not in vocational education.
>US colleges and universities attract the world’s best students and academics, and produce research that powers the global economy. But the share of Americans who have a lot of trust in higher education has declined 15 percentage points over the last decade, to 42% — and trust in the Ivy League stands at just 15%. President Donald Trump is going after America’s elite universities for a reason: Institutions that should be a source of national pride have become divisive (if not detested) because they have lost sight of their mission and why they are worthy of taxpayer support.
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Anon09/30/25, 21:57No.16802185
I went from a postdoc to an industry job. It's been a clusterfuck. That could be forgiven but it feels stagnant already after a year.In academia there was a network you're sort of forced to put yourself out there to interface with. And you're always looking for the next step in your career, because you have to. Here, I don't talk to anyone even within the workplace half the days. There's no conferences and no outside interaction except with suppliers or something. I report to the CTO so there isn't really room to progress. Hard to see what comes next, or what even is out there.I don't see myself going back to academia. My pay is shit. Do I wait another year or just bail now? And I know it's a bad idea to leave before another job is lined up but just how bad is it? I live like a rat and have enough savings to survive for years if needed.
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Anon10/01/25, 09:58No.16802746
I'm having fun programming machines (and toying around with network magic) in Factorio and I thought computer chips were cool back when I was a kid. I want to make six figures of income without losing my soul, and I don't like risk.What career path or field of study should I pursue?
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Anon10/01/25, 15:55No.16802973
Optics and AMO physics is good if I want to make death machines, right?
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Anon10/01/25, 15:56No.16802974
the biotech industry genuinely makes me want to kill myself. im such a retard for wasting my life on a phd
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Anon10/01/25, 17:03No.16803012
The TYLENOL AUTISM (TYLENAUTISM) claimed link is only PLAUSIBLE if Tylenol contained high amounts of mercury metal or other heavy metals like aluminum.Tylenol will DESTROY & KILL your liver though.How Mercury Causes Brain Neuron Damage - Uni. of Calgary
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8nSn5Ezd8Shorter neurons, faster signalling, but also higher rates of signal noises from damaged mylin sheaths (think of cracked insulation on house wiring).Bonus for autistics to high functioning Asperger's types... Faster neural firing makes faster thinking, near instant recall of information the autistic person likes, and speedier reflexes.Downside, less depth in thinking. Faster thoughts may be less accurate thoughts. Constant boredom and impatient behaviors.
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Anon10/02/25, 00:16No.16803405
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veFlfYjRo1Y
you dont hate recruiters enough
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Anon10/02/25, 03:16No.16803555
I don't know what industry is worth to work with in the long run as a computer Engineer graduate. I am thinking of going to Embedded Systems related, Cybersecurity (Which most of my batchmates mostly got into) or Data Science.My goal is to aiming to go with Embedded Systems but I am not confident to their requirements yet and seeing the IBM job requirements makes it even worse.>IBM is hiring entry level hardware Intern
>One job requirement is willing tot ake Masteral Degree
>Still no knowledge other than Adruinos
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Anon10/02/25, 20:48No.16804411
a 60k salary in 2018 is equivalent to a 79k salary today
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Anon10/03/25, 00:52No.16804547
>no QIS programs in my state
I guess I'll sit around in physics then...
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Anon10/03/25, 02:30No.16804615
I went into doing my Master's in Energy Materials.I just now realized that fuel cells are a dud and both batteries and PV modules are all being made in China. I have fucked up. Is there anything left I can pivot to?
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Anon10/04/25, 03:09No.16805667
Why are companies so picky about with CAD software you have experience with despite them being similar? Got rejected for a position I was otherwise perfect for just because I have exp with NX instead of solidworks
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Anon10/04/25, 07:16No.16805744
Being ignored in the lab group chat that I created. On the verge of a historical crashout, this is worse than having my reading group hijacked. Why is it my lot to suffer in life?
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Anon10/05/25, 12:56No.16806714
I managed to somehow get a job at what could be considered a dream company - startup size/culture but has been around for a while and is successful, wants to solve interesting problems in its field, big opportunity for learning and growth w.r.t. the field, uses its profits for goodbut I just feel empty
the field relates to finance and I don't really care about money from that point of view at all, and I feel like it requires creative juice which I'd rather save up for something I'm passionate about
I'm 24 and feel a strong craving to pack up and get the fuck out of my country, go work at a farm, live in the woods or some shit like that somewhere way else, do work where I see real results in front of me in real life, work that feels rewardingthe thought of now having to work at least a year (case where I leave after 1 year) or longer at the company while living in this city, doing the classics of wake up -> go to work sit at computer, pretend I care about the topic -> go home/grocery shopping/gym -> repeat just fills me with immense dread
am I just being chronically avoidant? all the things I find enjoyable lose their joy when ever I get into a position of having to do them. Maybe that's why I'm thinking I'd prefer manual jobs, idk...what do? all the prospects feel shit, if I leave right now, where do I go, how do I find whatever the fuck I want to be doing with my life?
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Anon10/05/25, 14:05No.16806762
Lmfao janitors cleaned up the thumbnail on the general how pathetic, clean this up while you're at it you pathetic jannie. Feel free to call an adult so I get a slap on the wrist you fucking loser.
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Anon10/06/25, 01:17No.16807383
>Live in Florida
>graduate physics
>no jobs
>5 months
>still no jobs
>decide to be a cnc tradie
>hired after 2 months of searching
>pay is $15/h which when accounting for inflation is lower than my mcdonalds job 4 years ago
>first day at job, everyone is an illegal immigrant
>no one speaks english except for the boss
just when i thought i couldnt be more radicalized
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Anon10/06/25, 08:44No.16807577
do you recommend a career in research? i can't say i wasn't influenced by half life
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Anon10/06/25, 11:00No.16807639
>Noble Prize week
I cannot wait to see what nonsense they award this year for Physics and Chemistry.
Last year with the AI figureheads and DeepMind was a compete joke.
I guess it really shows how politicized science is.
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Anon10/07/25, 03:54No.16808407
Do you guys have time for fun outside of work
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Anon10/07/25, 04:09No.16808412
how competitive is it getting into a stem phd with a stipend in 2025, without any publications
am I screwed i didnt take my chances in 2022
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Anon10/07/25, 13:21No.16808621
I got a EE Bsc and got tired of EE so whilst working in the field I got a job and started a MsC in applied mathematics. I have spent a good amount of time learning things like real analyis, measure theory, lin alg etc. I am hoping to apply for an applied math PhD in a year. Any suggestions on some interesting fields to focus on? I was thinking about learning stochastic calclus but I am not sure if there are enough oportunities in the field or if it's oversaturated etc.
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Anon10/07/25, 20:00No.16808979
Just quit my bachelors
i give up on life
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Anon10/08/25, 15:48No.16809556
Advice for getting out of Sweden ASAP?
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Anon10/08/25, 16:55No.16809632
Why believe in stem job while all governor and law maker and big corp treat you like shit and won't pay you ? They just want stable rule not your luxury salary and laugh you like shit while the top is just button presser and literally 4chan replier
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Anon10/10/25, 17:47No.16811369
>Self-pity general
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Anon10/11/25, 00:40No.16811640
I'm a biologist, how am I supposed to just start a business?
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Anon10/11/25, 17:04No.16812175
Should I do an online masters in physics or applied AI? Or both (might be tough with a full time job)?
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Anon10/12/25, 02:02No.16812666
I'm a chemistry major with a minor in data analytics and have one year of experience as a working student in the metallography lab of an automotive company. I have two options where to go next:Option 1: Working student for a small specialized university spin-off/semi-public commercial laboratory in microscopy, testing, materials science and engineering which also makes software for automatic microscopy and image recognition/machine learning solutions.Option 2: Working student in manufacturing data engineering in commercial chemical precursor manufacturing for a big brand in semiconductor/optoelectronics space.I want to move on from lab runt work and transition to more data-adjacent tasks that are still connected to materials science. Option 1 is more research-y but while the laboratory has great regional industry connections it doesn't have a well-known brand so it would just be an intermediate step if anything while Option 2 only deals with processes on not fundamental materials themselves it offers great brand recognition and constitutes relevant industry experience.Which option would you pick?
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Anon10/12/25, 05:30No.16812726
any other EE undergrads graduating this year? i'm getting zero interviews so im wondering if my resume is all fucked up for some reason or if no one feels like hiring anyone right now
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Anon10/12/25, 11:25No.16812845
Im doing EE right now but id rather do CS. Only reason I chose the former was because people say CS is a meme.
Any advice?
Don’t really care what degree I get at this point I can also switch to IT or something completely unrelated to computers.
I’m smart, but I’m also very miserable.
Next semester of EE I’ll have Calc 3, physics 2 + lab, linear algebra, circuits 1 + lab. Its a lot of work for one semester.
I took the current semester off so I have time to figure things out but this is it I have to make a choice.
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Anon10/12/25, 11:52No.16812850
New 3b1b video just dropped and I'm crying over the life I wasted. Mechanical engineering was my life and soul and if I had put even an ounce of effort and studied even a month before finals I would've passed. 28 and NEET without a degree and my parents disappointed in me
Fuck I'm gonna puke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0wJBEZdwLs
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Anon10/12/25, 12:45No.16812888
how to get out of manufacturing hell
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Anon10/14/25, 01:32No.16815558
Please help.BA in math with CS minor. Been teaching HS for 4 years since graduation; it’s fine and actually surprisingly fun but the pay is dogshit.Since Data “Science”/Software “Engineering” are cooked, I’m thinking of getting a degree in EE or ME.In order to do this, would I need a second bachelor’s, or should I get a masters? I have already determined I am qualified to get into several master’s programs at good schools because they accept math majors.The way I see it, employers would think a MS in EE with BA in Math is a little funny looking/fugazi. Like why not just hire the guy with both the MS and BS in EE. Also getting the second BS would qualify me to get my PE in four years rather than 8 with a MS & math undergrad, due to a bizarre fluke in my states licensing requirements.On the other hand, if I do a whole second BS (with a bunch of jerks at my shitty state school who are the age of the high school seniors I’m currently teaching), I may get to the end and not even get an Eng job. So then I just wasted time and money on a second undergrad. At least if i did a masters I’d have a masters.To throw a wrench in this, my dad runs an engineering firm so I have a nepo opportunity. However, and this is the kicker, it is MEP which is apparently boring as fuck.Please advise …
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Anon10/14/25, 07:02No.16815822
Wrong thread, but I figure this is the only general where people know chemistry.I got some ammonium bisulphate by cooking ammonium sulfate from the garden store. I want sulfuric acid, I was thinking I could cook it further in the presence of a blast of air to burn off the ammonia before it can recombine with the sulfur trioxide, but I feel like that would decompose the sulfur trioxide too.Any better ideas, or could this work? I have an electrolysis machine, but that feels like admitting defeat.
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Anon10/14/25, 19:10No.16816401
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Anon10/15/25, 00:04No.16816786
Completely bombed a grant deadline and let down all my co-PIs. I have mild dyslexia but more importantly I'm really disorganized. I read the submission deadline as Oct 15th instead of Oct 13th. One mistake, and I had Oct 15th deadline on my calendar all summer. I've been working on this proposal for a month and we spent at least 6-8 hours on Zoom, yesterday we were finalizing things and arguing about final polish/phrasing, margins, citations, etc. Everyone felt optimistic about our proposal. I feel like quitting and disappear into the ground, become a farmer and start a new life.
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Anon10/15/25, 01:17No.16816857
I can't get a PhD so should I get a checkbox MBA instead?
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Anon10/15/25, 09:39No.16817028
I have to work with another PhD student for a bit and the guy never stops fucking working, he's always messaging me to do work together in the evenings or weekends. What the fuck is wrong with people? We don't even have much to do
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Anon10/15/25, 14:42No.16817238
>every employer wants a 2:2
>I'm stuck with a third
Is it possible to renounce a degree so I can try again?
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Anon10/16/25, 01:31No.16817875
All right bros, tomorrow I will take the FE Exam for Electrical. Time to leave humanity behind!
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Anon10/16/25, 12:02No.16818204
Materials science major here. Didn't get a cool and shiny student job in semiconductors or aerospace :(, just one single offer in dental implantology. Should I take it? Is this a dead end?
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Anon10/17/25, 12:10No.16819202
Is there any future as a tech (technically a "specialist" classified as a physicist by HR which is kind based) in a very successful physics group? Is it where physics undergrad degrees go to die? At least these guys pay really well, market considering, with great benefits; also said it's not out of the question for me to get my masters with them (in some engineering capacity).
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Anon10/17/25, 21:12No.16819527
Just in case it was not clear enough that STEM graduates have to eject outta the UK on graduation:
>Are we earning enough? The new squeeze on the middle classes
https://archive.is/WWgk1
>Someone working full-time on a minimum wage (£12.21 an hour) will earn just over £25,000 a year. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), male graduates currently earn an average starting salary of £30,000 a year, and female graduates earn £28,000. This is not a huge margin above minimum wage. Indeed, HESA estimates that the “graduate premium” (the excess amount earned by those who completed university education) has fallen by 10 percentage points over the past two decades.And that is why a UK burger flipper earns as much as a postdoc in the UK. Some more doom-scrolling:>Furthermore, the average graduate emerges with student debts of £44,000. Servicing that debt makes it even harder to save enough money to reach the next marker of middle-class status: owning a home. The average age of a first-time buyer was 23 in 1960 and 28 in the mid-1980s, but last year it was 32. Many graduates have to rely on the “Bank of Mum and Dad” to get on the first rung of the housing ladder.I hope you plan not to retire, ever:>Analysis by stockbroker Charles Stanley suggests that, assuming a couple each qualifies for the state pension, they will need an additional pot of nearly £400,000 to fund a moderate lifestyle in retirement and more than £730,000 for a comfortable lifestyle. In practice, the average pension pot for men in their 60s is around £80,000 and for women, £40,000. In the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that many older workers are delaying retirement. To add to the problems, the state pension age is set to rise from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028.Logan's Run is the only future for those staying in the UK.
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Anon10/19/25, 07:13No.16820555
Are intelligent people just destined to work for absolute retards?
