Category: Book Review

A PhD Is Not Enough—A Guide to Survival In Science

By Peter J. Feibelman

Wouldn’t it be nice if all the PhDs got a career guidebook on the day of graduation? A book that outlines career after PhD.

I read an earlier version of the book – A PhD Is Not Enough—A Guide to Survival In Science and it felt a bit dated for 2021. However, it still has some solid advice. Particularly for those who want to pursue a career in science and are wondering about what a career after PhD is like? The text and ideas are written for a target group of PhD students in science and scientific environments (labs, test facilities, etc.). I belong to urban and regional studies, and I have a PhD in urban engineering. We do not work in scientific environments. Therefore, several sections did not apply directly to my context. However, I felt that perhaps I should have read this book way before I read it (1 Year after my PhD graduation).

Thoughts about the book

To summarize my thoughts about this book, I would say that this book is an excellent mentor from the point of view of a supervisor. The book, in several steps, argues the idea of how having a PhD is still not enough, particularly if someone wants to lead a career in academia. The book is around 110 pages short, cover to cover. Its arguments, wisdom, and bits of advice are distributed over in 8 chapters. The author draws a straightforward, no-nonsense path to finding yourself in academia. The author, Peter J. Fiebelman, is a Senior Scientist at Sandia National Laboratories. He received the Davisson Germer Prize of the American Physical Society for his outstanding research contributions in surface science. His research interest includes surface diffusion and electromagnetic fields.

The author does not talk about what it takes to do a Ph.D. or how is it like? On the contrary, the book starts at a point where it assumes that readers are PhD holders. Fresh graduates,  ready for a career after PhD. I cannot isolate and outline one idea from the book because the whole book, through each of its chapters, gives an outline. Each section of each chapter is an easy read stepstone guide to visualize your career path into academia. Another motivation the author thoroughly maintains through the book is finer detail that may maximize the readers’ chances of continuing employment within academia and push their scientific achievements ambitions.

At the very core of the book is the focus on strategic thinking that every PhD candidate aspirant and graduate should have and nurture through a PhD and soon after receiving the degree. The career path in academia is hard and competitive. Therefore, as the cover states, this pocket mentor is definitely a constructive release and a mirror for the reader to explore what’s there to look into career shortly after PhD graduation. If you are doing a PhD in Sciences, I recommend you to take a look at it.

You may check the latest editions here:

A Ph.D. Is Not Enough—A Guide to Survival In Science