Could you care to elaborate?

Thanks for the advice. Perhaps I should start going out and talking to people more, as uncomfortable as that prospect might be.

That's a very interesting suggestion. People talk a lot about having a good advisor, but I gather you're suggesting I find a mentor who isn't actually in charge of me. Seems kind of hard to find someone who would bother to be a mentor though, but I get what you mean about impartial advice.

This was sobering, thank you. I guess I've a lot to think about, very carefully.

Thank you (:

I actually found this insightful. Thanks.

Too much noise on Reddit. Plus I figured there'd be a decent population of scientists here; so far I haven't been disappointed with the response.

I thought I replied to this earlier but somehow it didn't get through? Anyway.

I read this a while ago, and it makes me very sad. We need more jobs in science, especially basic research.

I'm not an American, but it makes me sad that a country that once stood for intellectual advancement etc is now doing increasingly poorly in that regard. That, and the freedom of speech thing is cool. It seems I might have to turn to Europe (Germany, Switzerland, maybe?) or my home country (Singapore) to continue to realise the importance of science enough to fund it.

Do you have a reason?

Mmkay. I'll keep what you said in mind (:

I appreciate your frankness and found this very useful. I do enjoy all the learning and the machines but am quite intimidated by the rest of the incredibly capable people around. I fear I may not have the same aptitude as they do, but it's heartening that you've managed to find a career path that makes you happy. That is, if things don't work out in academia for me, at least there are other viable options (:

Thanks for taking the time to write that; it's helpful because I'm thinking of going into experimental condensed matter physics as well. I guess what I wanted to find out was how necessary it is to be dishonest in order to get a job in academia. From what you've written, I gather that networking and aptitude/persistence seem to be more important factors. I'll also definitely keep what you've said about not being too narrow-minded in mind (:

Thanks for pointing all of that out, although it's slightly alarming to discover that PhD students get/have to do peer-review work.

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks for sharing (: I worry a lot about my PhD not panning out, but your experience kind of gives me hope that it's not that bad when things screw up.