Is passion with average competence enough for a research career?
Hi, Your thoughts exactly mirror the same thing I’ve been thinking about the last couple of days. For the record, I’m PhD compsci as well — and like you — I get a real thrill from it, and am competant in the sense of being able to do the engineering (coding, measurement, etc) I feel I absolutely suck at the problem-solving part. My advice to you would be to hang in there. Remember you’ve only been at this for 3 years and there’s been a sharp learning curve. The people who are good at this have experience — experience tends to step up the problem-solving part. Just keep on hacking at it and hoping to get better, while aiming for the same. Then re-evaluate a year or two into the future and see where it goes. Personally, I feel the people who succeed at research are those who aren’t TOOOO introspective, because research is the one area you can kill yourself with self-comparison and self-doubt. Try and live outside yourself. Do your thing without thinking too much about the consequences
I had a similar experience, although I was just getting my masters in biomedical engineering. I found that I didn’t really enjoy the labwork as much as I had thought I would, and decided that it wasn’t right for me. Part of the problem for me was the lack of interaction with a wide variety of people – I got bored sitting in a lab all day looking at a bunch of slow growing kidney cells. I ended up finishing up my research, got the degree, and then decided to use the knowledge in another area entirely, and am now an analyst, looking at the biotechnology market. I’ve certainly been happier for switching, but in the end you need to decide what works best for you. Just remember that there are plenty of other options out there if you decide that it isn’t the right thing for you.
I also had a similar background/also similar personality wise and I had a hard time with bench work (from boredom). The courses were easy but research could not hold my attention. If you truly ‘enjoy’ research, I would stay with it and try a post-doc. If you think you may do well in another research area related to your field, start perusing the literature and talk to people at conferences. I have a friend who was horrible in a few of her grad school rotations but she did find a lab she did well in. I knew I could not stay in academe and found a book -“Alternative Careers in Science Leaving the Ivory Tour” – it was a great book in that it described the typical work day/highs/lows/and other people with a PhD went that same route. If you identify something you find interesting, try to get bits of experience now so that can translate to a job when you finish. Also, believe it or not, if you identify something you want to try – informational interviews can be helpful. Also, if you become c
