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Tag: looking back

Nathan

Just Yesterday

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My life has moved on a lot since my PhD – but there are aspects of the first week of being a PGR that I remember as clearly with a pin sharp image and in 3D Surround Sound audio.

I remember what it felt like to walk in to my office for the first time. How it felt to get going again after a year’s gap from my Masters. Looking at half-remembered notes of a topic and rebuilding those ideas. The early conversations and confusion, “So what do I do?”

 

I can remember all of that well. With years of hindsight I see the difference between Nathan-in-October-2004 and Nathan-in-June-2008. The latter knew a lot more than the former! He had done a lot, but he didn’t think about it that way. He had results but he didn’t value them as much as he could have.

Both of those Nathans were quite different, except that both still continued to not feel confident.

 

At times the first day of my PhD and the first minutes of my viva seem like they were just yesterday. And sometimes they feel like a million years ago or that they happened to someone else.

I would encourage you to look back a little as you come to the end of your PhD journey. Hopefully you’ll look kindly on the former-you; at the very least realise that you have come a long way, growing in knowledge, understanding and skill.

And hopefully you’ll realise that that growth and achievement is a good foundation for feeling confident at your viva.

Nathan

Techniques

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A small piece of viva prep: think back over your PhD and pick a method you learned, a piece of software or equipment that you became familiar with or a process for getting things done that you put together.

Unpick the steps involved for what you’ve selected.

  • What do you do at each stage?
  • How do you do it?
  • Why?
  • How well does it work for you?
  • And what has it helped you do over the course of your PhD?

When you reflect on the techniques you’ve learned or developed you have to appreciate the talent, work and time you have invested in your journey. There’s always more to learn and more to do, but you could only have come this far by becoming good at what you do. Remember that as you prepare for your viva.

Nathan

The Next Steps

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At some point your PhD will be finished.

Then what?

You don’t need to have all the answers. There’s no single right path that should be followed by a PhD candidate as they prepare to finish. It will help though to consider, while you’re writing up and getting ready, what your next steps might be.

  • Perhaps explore what excites and interests you. Where could you find opportunities that would allow this?
  • Maybe necessity governs your next actions. What needs must be satisfied by work, in terms of time, money and location?
  • It could be that you need to take simple steps before then. Is your CV up to date? Do you need to get help from others? When will you make time to do what needs to be done?

To figure out your next steps you probably also need to look back at the journey so far. This can help you decide what you have to do or what you could do, but it also helps prepare you for the viva too. Looking back could bring into clarity the trajectory that you’re on, both for the viva and for life after the PhD.

Nathan

How Did You Get Here?

Daily Post

Recently, I was very happy to be invited to contribute my career story to the Sheffield v i s t a blog.

I like to reflect, and summarising ten years of work in a thousand words was an interesting challenge. It gave me a lot to think about: “How did this happen? How did I end up doing this?” The post for v i s t a was a really useful exercise for me, and I hope it’s interesting and useful for lots of other people who might read it too. Do drop me an email if you have any follow-up questions!

It reminded me of a quote I’ve shared on the blog before: “The man on the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.”

If you’re coming to the end of your PhD, take a moment to look back.

Figure out how you got to where you are now. It didn’t happen by chance.

You’ve only got where you are by being good at what you do. You can keep doing that in the viva.