A little over two years ago, I sat in the lobby of a think tank in a badly-fitting suit. I was fresh out of my PhD and desperately hoping they’d take a chance on me and hire me. They did. I jumped into a world
I almost quit grad school. I drafted my resignation letter at least ten times. It wasn’t much of a mystery, really. I realized that my degree wasn’t preparing me for anything, that I was unlikely to get an academic job, and I wanted out. More
Lindy Ledohowski, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of EssayJack, a rapidly growing software company that helps students to write better. In this interview with Roostervane, she tells the story of leaving a tenure-track professor job in English, and her journey through consulting to eventually
There’s a weird veil of silence for a lot of us about what happens outside of academia with a PhD. It’s a complicated period of transition and there’s a lot we don’t understand about it. Which makes total sense. And since people don’t know about
I have a PhD and can’t get a job! What’s wrong? Check out my book about leaving academia– Doctoring: Building a Life After a PhD—read the first chapter for free on Amazon. When I finished my PhD, I jumped into a long drought of unemployment.
Updated Oct. 15, 2020 Quitting academia after my PhD was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It took a tremendous toll on my physical and mental health and, worst of all, was extremely lonely. Like many PhD students, I was in denial. I
Updated November 3, 2020 Is a PhD worth it? I’ve seen this question lurking around the hallowed threads of Twitter lately—a place I spend more time than I’d like to confess. A few people admit to regretting their PhD. Most—myself included — said that they
I never thought I would be leaving academia after a PhD. I loved academia. I talk to PhD students all the time who tell me that they want to work outside of academia. I never envisioned it. I had what I call a tenure-track vision
There was a piece of advice that I heard again and again during my young life, long before I ever thought about doing a PhD and certainly long before I thought about leaving academia. “Get a good job with a pension.” If there was academic
Early one Friday morning, I was driving into the east end of London, Canada. The sun was in my eyes as I cranked Death Cab for Cutie—Marching Bands of Manhattan, and I was shaking with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. After months of studying
