It's not a question of how far to go down the path (as in "should I get a PhD? Masters? Degree only?) but a question of which path you're on (How much competition is there? Is there a need for more in this field? Should I (or do I want to) do something else?)
This is an important point: depending on your path, you require different skills. If you are in an established field with not-new questions and a long-lived community of researchers, you have to be brilliant, ingenious and adept at the political game (i.e. the technocrat).
By contrast, if you are in a virgin field, you must be an adventurous, enterprising visionary who can sell himself (i.e., the entrepreneur).
My field, theoretical physics, is in between -- there are many new, small virgin territories on a backdrop of the well-established.
Comments 2
Reply
By contrast, if you are in a virgin field, you must be an adventurous, enterprising visionary who can sell himself (i.e., the entrepreneur).
My field, theoretical physics, is in between -- there are many new, small virgin territories on a backdrop of the well-established.
Reply
Leave a comment