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Getting out of teh TECH SHITHOLD to pursue PHD in ECON
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:25 AM Author: citrine queen of the night I'm 40. I know how to code and I got A's in tough math courses (e.g., real analysis, number theory). I shouldn't have a hard time getting 330+ on the general GRE and I'll probably get 95+ percentile the math subject test.
My work experience is pretty mediocre (long story).
How hard a time am I going to have with admissions? I want T8 (HYPSM, Chicago, Berkeley, Columbia) if I can get it.
Is this a good play at my age? I'm not set on academia. But I think the PhD is a good strategy for moving in to more interesting roles than being a code monkey.
I spend fuck-all so if I plateau at 175-200K per year, I'm fine with that. More is obviously better, but if I were focused only on money and had limitless willingness to accept humiliation, I'd stay in tech. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:26 AM Author: awkward hall really tough guy they're going to want to know you still have a good grasp of advanced math (especially analysis) after so many years out of school. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749717) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:28 AM Author: citrine queen of the night If I can show that, does my age become a positive?
I'm planning to take the GRE math subject test. I took it at 22 and got 98th percentile. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:29 AM Author: Floppy newt what's your ultimate goal here (after PhD)? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749742) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:32 AM Author: citrine queen of the night Honestly, if I get a 9-to-5 research job making low 6 figs, I'll consider that an improvement over tech (where I'm close to 200k but hate it... it's well paid but low status and ageist). That said, I think it would open a lot of options... policy, upper management, corporate strategy. And I haven't ruled academia out. I just know the job market isn't great, and that academia can be a bit ageist. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749763) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:35 AM Author: Floppy newt is studying MIS a good option for someone similar in age to you? asking for friend. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749779) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:41 AM Author: citrine queen of the night Hard to say, but my gut feeling is no.
The vast majority of tech jobs are boring monkey work that precocious teenagers could do. Most of "programming" for a salary is stapling together things other people have built. And by the time you're past 40, any non-management job is an embarrassment, to be quite frank about it. I've had 50+ programmers working for me and they were awesome, but the shit the higher-ups said about them and their age... just repugnant.
MIS might be a good way to get into a management position, but I feel like getting an advanced degree to become an IT middle manager isn't a great play.
Also, I have friends who were and are CTOs and that seems like a very unpleasant job. Tech is a dumping ground for blame, and will always hold low status. CFO is a better C-level target than CTO, IMO. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:47 AM Author: Floppy newt do you have econ or math undergrad? how does someone get to where you're at right now education wise? i'd be happy with that (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749886) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:54 AM Author: citrine queen of the night Math.
I would advise you against SWE. Even the 9-to-5 jobs tend to require on-call and extra hours. Almost no one can actually program 12 hours per day, but you'll be expected to reply if your PM pings you at 8:00.
SWE is a terrible career. The pay isn't bad but the job is extremely low status and stressful. Even when you get into management, you still have eat shit from PMs. And tech execs are sleazy scam artists. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:40 AM Author: awkward hall really tough guy a 9-to-5 research job at a govt agency is the credited path after an econ phd (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749826) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:41 AM Author: citrine queen of the night Why do you say that?
How well do those jobs pay? |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:45 AM Author: awkward hall really tough guy lots of $120k jobs as an entry-level phd economist in govt agencies with good benefits, great hours, and good job security. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749860) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:46 AM Author: citrine queen of the night Is that $120k in DC, or $120k somewhere I might actually want to live? DC is absurdly expensive and, on the whole, sucks. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749870) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:47 AM Author: awkward hall really tough guy dunno, but the median pay for a govt phd economist is $140k. i'm guessing the vast majority of those jobs are in DC. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749878) |
Date: August 13th, 2020 11:26 AM Author: Ultramarine den kids, family, net worth? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749715) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:27 AM Author: citrine queen of the night 0, married, pathetic. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749725) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:31 AM Author: Ultramarine den brother, if you had kids my answer would be different. if your spouse is supportive (and frankly, even if he is not) and you guys can make it work financially, let your heart be your guide. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749760) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:29 AM Author: Brindle party of the first part selfie I have a friend who's doing a PhD in econ at an Ivy League school. He thinks it will be a huge win if he starts at 100k. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749736) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:33 AM Author: citrine queen of the night What does he plan on doing?
My understanding was that tenure-track economics professors made $140k. Obviously, academic salaries in other fields are a lot worse, and there are the postdocs. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:46 AM Author: awkward hall really tough guy the government jobs pay better and are less stressful than the academic jobs. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749872) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:40 AM Author: awkward hall really tough guy flame (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749828) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:40 AM Author: flesh elite multi-billionaire personal credit line why would you do this to yourself? why is your net worth so low if you have been in tech so long? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749821) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:43 AM Author: citrine queen of the night I think the PhD itself will be an enjoyable experience. I'm used to working 60+ hours per week. I'm mostly worried about admissions (age) and the job market afterward.
Net worth low... it mostly comes down to some really bad decisions in my 20s. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:43 AM Author: Underhanded locus becky Don't you need to have at least some publications or research experience? How are you going to get recommendations from profs? Not sure about Econ but in other STEM fields those matter more than grades/GRE. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749850) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:45 AM Author: citrine queen of the night I'm nervous about recs. Not the issue of getting them, but recency.
My plan is to apply and if I get rejected, find some way to get research experience and apply again. I really want out of tech.
I do have some pubs but they're in the early 2000s and several are classified. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:46 AM Author: flesh elite multi-billionaire personal credit line math subject GRE will be important if OP can pull off 98th + percentile. regular GRE is flame of course. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749874) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:48 AM Author: Underhanded locus becky It's more like just a requirement you have to meet though. A bad score will ding you but a perfect score is not going to make up for lack of research / relevant recs. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749893) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:50 AM Author: flesh elite multi-billionaire personal credit line yeah, true. i guess i was just pointing out that a top percentile score on the math gre does indicate mathematical talent, unlike the regular gre, or other subject tests for that matter, which don't signal much of anything. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749914) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:47 AM Author: Appetizing hot theatre private investor If this is your best option might I suggest the business end of a shot gun. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749877) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:49 AM Author: self-absorbed jade kitchen Not a horrible idea if you have some passion for it, but you'll end up in another dead-end job where your lack of people skills hurts more than it does as a code-monkey. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749899) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:50 AM Author: onyx native twinkling uncleanness a guy from my HS did law school at a top 10 program that's also top 10 in Econ (but *not* tied at/near the top 3 logjam) so think Columbia or Chicago or Berkeley, and then applied to the Econ PhD program his 3L year and got in. (fully funded via scholarship/TA grants--apparently *some* top programs will admit a handful of people without funding, for whatever reason)
he's a regular white guy who was always real sharp and good at math but not autistically beautiful mind brilliant or anything. have heard him talk about how his program is really diverse in terms of having students from a bunch of different professional backgrounds and areas of academic study that weren't strictly Econ, but he's also said he felt really lucky to get admitted and thinks his having a JD from the same program may have helped him a lot getting in, since top 10JD/top 10 Econ is a very strong candidate for placement in a TT position at a law school, even if he doesn't cop an academic appointment in an Econ dept.
UT/A&M for ug, but STEM and also majored in one of the most selective programs that actually rejects applicants, where in-state admission is probably on par with lower ivy or at least top 25ish ug in terms of stats. no w/e other than a BB internship in college and biglaw internship at LS. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 11:56 AM Author: clear travel guidebook hominid hrms don't want mediocre industry castoffs, they won't ignore ur work experience if it's truly shitty (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40749941) |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 12:16 PM Author: Obsidian Motley Field What kind of coding do you do? I have an idea for a microeconomic model that amounts to program synthesis.
Also UChicago has some interesting computational econ tracks. |
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Date: August 13th, 2020 12:50 PM Author: clear travel guidebook hominid no it doesn't (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4602992&forum_id=2#40750259) |