Comments

  1. mastmaker says

    You mean you can just post a 20 year old photo of your daughter just like that, and she won’t freak out and threaten to (or actually) disown you? You must feel so special!

  2. chigau (違う) says

    Skatje has known PZ for well over 20 years.
    I bet he can’t surprise her any more.
    Congratulations to Skatje!

  3. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Congratulations to Skatje on passing her exams. Sounds like things are getting close.

  4. Hj Hornbeck says

    Nice, congrats! Hope her postdoc goes well, if she’s aiming for that.

  5. PaulBC says

    Not too young to receive sample textbooks addressed to “Professor” though. Or do they still do that?

  7. ANB says

    @mastermaker My exact first thoughts.
    @ chigau My exact second thoughts. ;-)

  8. Rob Grigjanis says

    Congratulations, Skatje. Hoping the process isn’t/won’t be as traumatic as it was for me.

  9. PaulBC says

    I don’t associate getting a PhD with any trauma. It was a few years to work on problems at a level of depth that I have not approached since I started working. Well, I guess I lucked out being in a field where I was not just the low-cost help, or maybe I just had a great advisor.

    I do question the opportunity cost. I tell anyone who asks that only reason to get a PhD (in computer science) is because you want one, not because it’ll pay off in money or any other obvious success measure (you do need it if you’re going to do research in many fields.)

    Congratulations, Skatje.

  11. Rob Grigjanis says

    PaulBC @9: I’m happy for you. For me, the work was OK*. Writing the thesis, and the prospect of defending it, were a nightmare.

    *In hindsight, I could have picked a better topic, and my postdoc work was much more interesting.

  12. says

    All the congrats, Skatje. We don’t actually know each other, but you’ve commented here like, twice maybe, and I remember it, so I know you read this creation of your father at least occasionally. You thus have no excuse not to feel all the goodwill headed your way right now. Revel in it. I’ve never defended a PhD, but from everything I know you’re going to have to hold on tight to all the support & good feeling you can get.

    PARTY & DRINK TEA & EAT ASIAN FOOD & PARTY SOME MORE.

    And avoid the lutefisk. Always avoid the lutefisk.

  17. says

    PaulBC @9: I started working in industry after finishing my bachelors degree in mechanical engineering. And I have never regretted that. Partly because I had some very good mentors early in my career, each with decades of experience. But also because if I’d done a masters degree &c, I would have missed out on several years of salary and raises.

    At least here in Europe, people with a masters degree or PhD are expected to migrate to management roles fairly quickly. And not everybody enjoys doing that.

    But to each their own path! So congratulations to Skatje!

  18. PaulBC says

    rsmith@17

    But also because if I’d done a masters degree &c, I would have missed out on several years of salary and raises.

    Indeed. I sometimes wonder how I’d have done if I had moved to Silicon Valley in 1989 with a masters degree instead of in 1998 with a PhD and a dubious postdoc. I basically sat out the early part of the internet boom. I could have come here in 1995 with a PhD and that might have been the best choice in retrospect.

    (I’ve done fine as it is though, so I don’t really regret it.)