Ask HN: Has anyone gone back to academia once they were past 35 or so? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Has anyone gone back to academia once they were past 35 or so?

13 pointsankit2196 comments

Inspired by another post. I am facing this question as I want a change of stream. I want to pursue a Phd in Physics (Particle Physics, Quantum physics, or astrophysics too), at a top institute in Germany/France/USA. I have a bachelors in Engineering, and a good educational background, but most of the work I did since graduation was in Software and startups. I have kept up to an extent by reading research papers and recent developments, and now I want to pursue it full time. Question is obviously: Has anyone done it before? What was the experience like? Is there any pitfalls I should be aware of? Will they even accept me? Is there a realistic path towards doing that?

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Yes, it's doable but what are your plans after? Do you intent on an academic career? I can tell you the market for permanent faculty positions in physics is extremely small and ultra competitive. I went the opposite way as you, never worked a real job and spent my whole life in academia until I received a PhD in particle physics at 27 and then went into industry.

The key qualities you need to succeed in your dissertation is a capacity to persist for a very long period of time on difficult problems - difficult not only technically but conceptually. One of the key skills is to learn how to formulate what is even the problem to solve. 90% of a PhD is just supreme stubbornness in the face of adversity.

If you genuinely enjoy it and are willing to forego a salary for 4-6 years (the average time it takes to finish a PhD in the US/Canada is 6 years), the average PhD stipend is about 20-25k - it's a very exclusive experience and people will always give you a default amount of deference on most matters if you don't care for modesty.

But if you just want a boost to your career or like Dr. in front of your name I advice against it. Generally speaking a PhD is always a net-negative for personal wealth creation.

Hey, many thanks for the response.

The goal isn't wealth creation or to boost my career. The desire comes from two things: 1/ Physics has always interested me, I am willing to do deeper, good at Maths (calculus and all), and I regretted not pursuing this more thoroughly (and abandoning it) during my undergrad. So, kind of want to finish it off. 2/ I am looking for a permanent switch from business to other fields. Not to do with money so much, more to do with working on things I like.

I recognize the faculty positions would be limited and ultra competitive. I envisaged becoming a part of those research labs (provided everything works out), or join someone as a postdoc fellow / Research Scholar. (Money is not the objective here). A Phd helps because my knowledge at this point is more theoretical and just because of what I read. Your perspective on Phd helps, many thanks for that too. (I have had many others say the same thing :) . So I know it will be tough.)

If you don't mind me asking, where did you end up when you say you went into industry?

I think this is the right set of values for going in to academics again. Years correlate less with the ability to go to uni, life and financials are the decisive factors. You won't fit if you have two kids and mortgage.

A wise woman I met said to me when she was around 60 that she should go to university again as she likes the good boost to critical thinking. She ought to do that in every 10-15 year and it's about time. I'd say it's a nice example to follow.

I ended up in Data Science and ML, my dissertation was primarily analytics related so it was a natural fit. The role was initially staffed primarily by ex-physicists disillusioned with academia to begin with.

If you are set on a permanent research position at least in the US lab system those are in my experience even more competitive than faculty positions as they come with the luxury of not having to teach. A post-doctoral position is quite possible but you have to consider you will like be early 40's by the time you finish and competing against late twenties, early 30's and post-docs are typically renewed at 3-4 years and are not permanent positions either, depending on the school and country they may not qualify for the same benefits in the university system.

By all means you should do what you feel, you are talking to a guy who left his job and now spends his time trying to develop a video game so I know a thing or two about jumping off the veranda - sometimes you just take a leap of faith and see what happens.

Not in research myself but my SO is a 6th year PhD student among many other data points. Your goals seem awesome but I didn’t get the impression you want to pursue physics research - just that you like science/physics and want to go deeper. My opinion/suggestion would be to look into a Masters program first - (my background is in engineering in the US so not sure if it’s different with physics) but I’ve known multiple people in various STEM field who’ve extended their Masters into a PhD.

Conversely you could always “master out” of a PhD program if that’s what fits/a possibility but again you haven’t mentioned anything like “I want to be a professor/do research at a national lab” etc

Certainly not trying to dissuade you from anything and I find your post inspiring. Best of luck and hope you find what you’re looking for

Edit: kind of went on a tangent rather than focusing on the original question. If financials are not a huge part of the question I think your profile would make for a good graduate student. There is precedence for success among people I’ve known with similar age/educational profiles. If ones’ goal is to become a faculty member that’s more subject to chance

A couple of women I know married men who were getting Ph.D.s in physics. Both husbands are now doing data science.

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