Bret Devereaux

It being the season, the 'I got into XYZ PhD Program!' tweets kind of break my heart. I don't rain on any parades - if you are celebrating, celebrate. You earned it! But there's sorrow b/c unless things change, there won't be any more jobs in 5-7 years than there are now...

...and so I find myself torn between acknowledging the academic achievements - which are very real; admissions are very selective - and mourning for the fresh souls we are feeding into the academic hazing wood-chipper and dumping from there into the job market sludge.

And I can't even offer my own odd trajectory as advice. "Get a PhD, get burned by the job market, keep trying, then get some viral tweets and reddit threads and become very-low-grade internet famous for a blog' is not a career plan. It sure wasn't my career plan.

And I can offer no good omens about its future success. It hasn't gotten me that coveted permanent position yet, though it does (along with teaching) pay for my food, rent and books. I suppose if I had any advice, it would be this: sacrifice nothing.

There is no academic jobs god listening at this alter, so burn nothing upon it. This is an Epicurean Job Market; the gods exist but they do not care. Enjoy your studies, have what fun you have. Enjoy the life of the mind. See where it takes you.

But there's no gold at the end of this rainbow, so don't kill yourself to get there. Your sacrifices won't be rewarded. Don't delay anything; I regret everything I delayed for graduate school. Don't miss sleep. Don't take on debt; dear god, don't take on debt.