Beware, long stories (I need to vent a little, thats what pubs are for, right?) I am naive. I trust people with too much. Today I learned the hard way. Rewind a few months... Drama from the Lab Story #1 After I started my new job as a PhD in this lab and finding out how horrible this lab/boss actually is, I knew I will leave the place but gave myself until christmas to decide. During christmas I knew I am not staying anymore. Before that, I talked to some colleagues, asking about how things go down when the boss isn't in a good mood etc. They asked whether I am considering to leave, I said that I am. In january, some of them asked again (Mary and John), and I told them that I am staying until I find a new job. Latest would be June. I got a project assigned to. I was supposed to continue the project of Mary. What started as a boring project had some interesting turn and I became interested in it. I did not have much to do in the lab (only some cloning, which takes a few days, but only a few hours of that day) so I began to read and dig deeper into the subject. While doing that, I found some publications that my colleagues has obviously missed. I didn't think much about it, until, at a meeting with Mary and the boss, the subject came up and I told them that there is this and that publication (published in 2007, easy to find). This changed the project and made us concentrate on those findings. Now mary got angry, because she thought that I am trying to make her look bad in front of the boss and that so close to her graduation (she has been there for 3 years). I told her that she should tell me stuff like that beforehand and that I will send her the publications that I find first before discussing them with the boss. So, a similar situation happened again. I found a publication which was very relevant to our experiments (published in 2013, hard to find), sent it to her, talked about it and then discussed it with the boss. Working good, right? The situation happened again, yesterday, I found two more publications (2010 and 2011, again easy to find) which are very relevant. At this point I am wondering what the fuck my colleague was doing the last 3 years. I again sent her the publications. What does she do? Send an email to the boss starting with "I found those two publications etc." without mentioning me or putting me in CC. Now the boss tells me to read those two publications and dig deeper there, except, I already did. At this point I get pissed. I tell her we need to talk. I ask her what she wants. She says she wants to finish her PhD and feels like I am destroying all her plant because I am coming up with new ideas to do. She is afraid that I will find something that might make her results worthless etc. I ask her what I am supposed to do. I am doing the minimum work that I can do. She tells me I should leave work, because that would be the best solution. Now I get out of this talk feeling horrible. Destroying her plans etc. but then I am wondering, is it fair to give out a PhD-title to somebody who doesn't give a shit about science and misses several publications that are easy to find? What do I chose? Science of man? Story #2 This one is about John. John is a master student working in out lab. John is not a very good scientist. He is not motivated and does a sloppy job. Nothing which can't be changed, but thats the status quo. John started his master's thesis in our lab half a year ago with the option to continue to his PhD thesis afterwards. Now this master's thesis is finished, the written part is over. But we were wondering, when do you get your contract for the PhD john? He said the boss didn't offer him one, but he will ask him. So the time came, he asked the boss. The boss said that he would like to wait until the oral exam is done. Why? Why wait? He is already working in the lab, for free. And you don't need the diploma to get paid like a PhD, you only need it to register your PhD thesis at some point... Usually the boss doesn't hesitate with signing contracts at all, why now? We all figure, he is going to shove him. Except for him. The boss also tells him that he thinks he fits on another project, project X (mine is project Y). What does john do, he approaches me yesterday and asks me to quit work before his oral exam so he could ask the boss to give him project Y instead of X. I secretly know, that the boss might not offer him the PhD position and if I leave, he might take him, despite him being not so fit and he has other options. Then again. Does somebody who is not a good scientist deserve to do a PhD? What do I chose? Science or man? The solution to all the problems of my colleagues seems to be my departure. But no one asked me what I want. I don't want to sit at home, without money and without a job. I should have never trusted my colleagues. What do I do? :(
This is a story about John, Mary, Cumol and Boss. John is working on his Ph. D and is not a good scientist. Boss knows he is not a good scientist. Mary is working on her Ph. D and is not a good scientist. Boss either knows she isn't a good scientist or is too incompetent to figure it out. Cumol is working on his Ph. D and sounds like a good scientist (hard for the audience to know for sure, but it seems reasonable). Boss has no reason to think Cumol isn't a good scientist, other than Mary attempting to share her incompetence with Cumol. Boss is an asshole. There are four people in this story, and one of them doesn't belong. Of these four people, one of them employs the other three. All three employees are there because they don't have any better options right now, but only Cumol has the luxury of supposing better options will come around eventually. Mary and John? Yeah, they're stuck where they are because they suck at what they do. There are four people in this story, and one of them doesn't belong. Of these four people, one of them doesn't suck. The three that suck all sort of want Cumol to go away because - honestly, dude - you make them all look bad. So when Mary and John tell you their lives would be better if you left, they're not wrong. They're assholes, but correct assholes. The fact of the matter is you'd bolt to a better job instantaneously if one presented itself, and the fact of the matter is they're assholes and not at all concerned about your well-being. The happy solution for everyone is for you to be somewhere else. However, their happiness doesn't hinge on your happiness so the sooner they can kick you out the door the faster they can return to comfy mediocrity. After all, they have to have some sense that you don't think they're competent; they might even have the creeping suspicion that you're right. These people exist all over the world. I've worked with lots of them. You are correct: You should never have trusted your colleagues. Now is about the time to start thinking "what the fuck am I doing here?" and burning the midnight oil to end up somewhere else. It's abundantly clear you are not employed by a meritocracy which means you are there as long as it's more convenient to employ you than let you go. The more you draw attention to everyone else's mediocrity the less that situation balances in your favor. Shitty situation, and I'm sorry. But you're basically saying "I hate my job and am surrounded by backstabbing, incompetent opportunists, what do I do?" And you're a clever guy. You can solve that by inspection. There's a hell of a lot of road between theory and practice, I know. If I had any way to help in that department I'd be all over it. Know that we're all pulling for you, and we tip one back in your general direction.
this looks much clearer than the stuff I wrote :D The only reason I am staying is because it's easy money. I am getting paid for what I am good at. And the moment I actually find the project interesting, things go to shit. Edit: the only thing I need to figure out is how I want to communicate that I am leaving. Do I go the honest way, basically telling the boss its mainly because of him that I am leaving? Or do I do it the clever way, tell him its about the university and that the project doesn't work for me? The first option will make me feel good, but might have a bad influence on my later career... The second option is only partly true.
Advice No 2: Never, ever, tell anyone at your job that you are trying to leave/going to leave. A person who is known to be trying to leave will be pushed under the bus by absolutely everyone else who doesn't want to leave but knows someone needs to. If either of these people told your boss you were trying to leave, you'd become the first person fired when the boss was told the department was over budget (or layoffs needed to happen, or etc. etc.). These people clearly don't have your best interests in mind (and most of your coworkers won't, ever) so I frankly don't see what has stopped them from telling him already. I would consider this a very unstable situation at this point.
Yeah, its a ticking bomb, I learned my lesson. The next due date is the 8th of February. On that day, the boss will tell John whether he is staying or not and what project he is getting. Just need to figure out what to tell the boss. He will want to know why I don't want to do my PhD in his lab...
Nah, you should've been able to trust them Everyone commenting here is pretty spot-on, if you can take one lesson away, it's this: Pick a good boss. Pick an adviser who fills that definition. In a lab, they make or break everything. You can be an excellent scientist in a shitty lab... and you will end up with shitty results. Don't get emotionally caught up in this project. It won't end well, even if you decide to stay. Good projects come from good labs, period. In a pressure cooker situation like a graduate program, any instability immediately produces cut-throats, because all of their asses on on the line, and there's not a strong hand there balancing out egos. This quotidian Game of Thrones nonsense is all too common in some circles of academic environments because it can easily produce an unbridled ego and not place a high value on social grace. A good adviser knows this and nips it in the bud. Kiss the professor's ass and get a good recommendation. Propose it in a way where there seems to be no other option but to leave, though you want to stay. Ask a professor you can trust that works in another department, or one who's not invested for the best way to do this. Look at other labs you want to transfer to, explain to them honestly your situation and impress them while showing a desire to work there. Thankfully you're not very far along, I've seen some grad students drop after a year or two to pursue something else and squander everyone's time and piss off the PI while they're at it. In the end, though, everyone was happier. Pick yourself, homes. No one else in this situation is even considering that equation.I am naive. I trust people with too much.
Science or man?
Treat it like a crazy ex-: be thankful you're noticing the project is obsolete instead of after years of dating it and building up for the grand ceremony of marriage. Best of luck to you, if your department isn't too crazy, you might be able to jump ship instead of starting over from year 1.
The project is actually fun, because I am doing the puzzle work that should have been done 2 years ago. And for the boss, the solution of the puzzle probably means a nature neuroscience or neuron publication. Too bad I won't be mentioned on any publication once I left
No. No. It sounds like you've done nothing wrong. Two colleagues have chosen you as a scapegoat for their incompetence. Honestly, if these two knuckleheads were your only problem, I'd stay with your current project. But having a bad advisor/boss? That's a deal breaker. As long as it doesn't cost you too much time (the time you've already invested into the project(s) you've been working on), I'd cut my losses, move into another lab, and get a different advisor, if at all possible. Best of luck, I'm sorry you find yourself in troubled waters....is it fair to give out a PhD-title to somebody who doesn't give a shit about science and misses several publications that are easy to find?
Does somebody who is not a good scientist deserve to do a PhD?