Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs

Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by anjc on Monday July 23, 2018 @02:51PM (#17594896)

I don't know why the downvotes. Publishing something takes a lot of directed effort. It's so tough to stop doing (what feels like) the real work, and quickly squeeze out a submission for a conference that has a 10% acceptance rate. Of course publishing is extremely important, but too large a focus on publishing hampers results.

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Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by Fomite on Monday July 23, 2018 @04:57PM (#17595920)

Results that aren't disseminated are functionally useless.

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Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by taejo on Tuesday July 24, 2018 @05:38AM (#17599392)

Sure, results need to be published. The problem is that the cart is put before the horse: we decide to publish the results, and where to publish, before we have an inkling of what the results will be.

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Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by Fomite on Tuesday July 24, 2018 @06:45PM (#17605548)

I'm not necessarily sure this is the cart before the horse.

Deciding to publish the results can just as easily be restated as "Come up with an experiment with a clear and precise scope"

Where to publish is often determining what audience and what questions to ask. For example, targeting a clinical journal means proofs and analytical results may be less compelling, while a simulation of a study might be of active interest.

Both of those help narrow the scope of "All possible interesting questions" to something tractable.

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