Conversation

Has anyone managed to create a later-life evenings/weekends "independent research" schedule that's as intensive as grad school/PhD schedules?
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I recall, while I was still taking courses in grad school, it was like 2-3 hours in class/day, and maybe 2-3 hours in the coffeeshop or lab working on research, plus teaching/grading work. When I was done with courses, it was a little less intense, but still at least 3-4h/day
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Now, to the extent I can even call myself an independent researcher with a straight face, I spend maybe 4-5 hours a week... like one afternoon. Something like 10-20% of grad school level. And that's on a good week. I see no line of sight to getting up to 20-30 hours.
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I think all the talk of indie research/scholarship etc. are basically impossible if you're also earning a living doing something else. Ie you have to be retired-early and independently wealthy.
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It's nice to see people trying to make various sorts of micro-grant programs happen, but I don't think they're funded at levels high enough to make meaningful indie research possible, in terms of freeing up time for later-life people with higher cost of living.
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Even in my first year as a grad student, I made ~18k/yr, and in my last year as postdoc I think I made ~55k, and that was mostly as a single guy with very low cost of living and expectations...
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I personally don't count my writing as research. If it goes straight from idea to writing, without intermediate steps like field work, coding, math, deep prep notes, or experiments, it's not research in my book. Going straight from reading to writing is more like criticism.
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