Kaj_Sotala comments on Best career models for doing research? - Less Wrong

27 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 07 December 2010 04:25PM

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Comment author: lix 07 December 2010 07:08:51PM *  22 points [-]

After several years as a post-doc I am facing a similar choice.

If I understand correctly you have no research experience so far. I'd strongly suggest completing a doctorate because:

  • you can use that time to network and establish a publication record
  • most advisors will allow you as much freedom as you can handle, particularly if you can obtain a scholarship so you are not sucking their grant money. Choose your advisor carefully.
  • you may well get financial support that allows you to work full time on your research for at least 4 years with minimal accountability
  • if you want, you can practice teaching and grant applications to taste how onerous they would really be
  • once you have a doctorate and some publications, it probably won't be hard to persuade a professor to offer you an honorary (unpaid) position which gives you an institutional affiliation, library access, and maybe even a desk. Then you can go ahead with freelancing, without most of the disadvantages you cite.

You may also be able to continue as a post-doc with almost the same freedom. I have done this for 5 years. It cannot last forever, though, and the longer you go on, the more people will expect you to devote yourself to grant applications, teaching and management. That is why I'm quitting.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 07 December 2010 07:18:29PM 4 points [-]

once you have a doctorate and some publications, it probably won't be hard to persuade a professor to offer you an honorary (unpaid) position which gives you an institutional affiliation, library access, and maybe even a desk. Then you can go ahead with freelancing, without most of the disadvantages you cite.

Huh. That's a fascinating idea, one which had never occurred to me. I'll have to give this suggestion serious consideration.

Comment author: billswift 07 December 2010 09:45:23PM 7 points [-]

Ron Gross's The Independent Scholar's Handbook has lots of ideas like this. A lot of the details in it won't be too useful, since it is mostly about history and the humanities, but quite a bit will be. It is also a bit old to have some more recent stuff, since there was almost no internet in 1993.

Comment author: James_Miller 07 December 2010 10:40:55PM 3 points [-]

Or become a visiting professor in which you teach one or two courses a year in return for modest pay, affiliation and library access.

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