[Astronomy] Final year PhD concerns

The final year of my PhD is now well underway, and I'm currently making good progress with my thesis writing. At the moment I have three chapters that are almost fully drafted, out of the six that I intend to end up with. Of the remaining three two are the introduction and conclusion chapters, so I'm looking in good shape at the moment. I'm deliberately pacing myself with the thesis; at the moment I'm working on the science content of the fourth main chapter, which requires running lots of code for long periods of time, so I've got a lot of time on my hands.

(Credit: PhD comics)

People always tell me that writing a thesis is stressful, but what's worrying me at the moment is my future post-PhD. I've been catching up with lots of friends in the last couple of weeks, as well as my parents and Grandma, and they've all been asking the same thing. "What are you planning on doing after you finish?" I've given them all the same stock answer; I'll spend Christmas looking around to see what's out there, and if I see a postdoc that I really like the look of then I'll go for it, but if I don't then I'll do something else. On some level though that answer's a bit of a brush-off, and whilst it may well have been true a month or so ago it doesn't really reflect some of my internal thoughts at the moment.

There's been a lot of discussion online in the astronomical community in recent weeks regarding working conditions, working hours, expectations from tenured staff, and mental health. As someone looking at a potential career in Astronomy, this has resonated quite strongly with me. The heart of the furore, at least to me, are the expected working hour figures that are being bandied around, and some of the levels of commitment that are being discussed, apparently seriously.

It all stems from an email sent out by a faculty member at an American University to the faculty's postgraduates. The email contains some very good advice, but undermines the message with a couple of ludicrous statements at the start. The first was a statement that 80-100 hour weeks should be considered 'normal', but that 60+ would be ok for someone with a family, and that working weekend should be standard practice. The second, linked statement, was that if you find yourself thinking about astronomy constantly, stay awake thinking about your work, and find yourself wondering about it at all hours, then maybe Astronomy is the career for you.

These statements are completely bonkers. That kind of working week is not sustainable long term without serious health implications, not to mention the social and familial problems that arise. Some people have, correctly, pointed out that some weeks will have very large workloads owing to impending proposal deadlines etc., but incredibly there are some professional astronomers who are defending the numbers as 'normal'. The implication of the second statement is obvious; if you don't think about astronomy constantly, you're not cut out for it as a career. Again, this seems incredibly narrow-minded. Fortunately there are a lot of astronomers openly opposing the original email, but as I noted, there are also those that thing it is spot on.

This online storm has me currently reconsidering my career options. I had seriously been thinking about looking for a postdoc, perhaps abroad, but now I'm not sure that I want to. I just cannot commit the kind of time and single-minded devotion that is being bandied about as necessary. I have too many interests, a long-term relationship to maintain, and I value my sanity. It's left me a bit at sea to be honest,  and I'm no longer confident in what I want to do. Christmas is going to involve some serious soul searching, and consultation with some people who's opinions I trust.