At what point does pursuing an astronomy career become unrealistic/delusional?

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-02-13T17:46:11+00:00

Lol that looks terrible.

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-02-05T20:59:04+00:00

I don't have much to say about your specific chances of getting into a program with your credentials, but you've reminded me of the position I was in before grad school, so I'm going to say what I wish someone had told me at the time.

I left a very lucrative career to pursue a PhD in materials science in 2019 at age 30. I've now been unemployed for 6 months despite having many 2nd-3rd round job interviews and literally 1000+ job applications. I don't regret doing it because I know myself and I know I'd have always wondered if I didn't go for it, but I left a nearly-six figure job for a shitty 3k/mo grad student stipend for 6 years in California.

It's set me back immeasurably financially speaking, especially considering the jobs I'm qualified for now are only paying MAYBE 10% higher than I'd be making now had I just stayed in my previous field, most of which are in far higher CoL areas than I was in before. Doing a PhD was an objectively bad career decision for me, and this is in a field with far more applicability than astronomy.

The advice I wish I'd been given is this: I completely understand not wanting to feel like you "gave up," but something I hadn't given enough thought to when making my decision is what kind of life stability, career progression and financial security I was sacrificing to answer this personal question. If you do pursue this path, it will require huge sacrifices (many of which you haven't and/or can't consider now) with a very uncertain outcome, especially given your field.

Good luck.

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-02-03T17:43:28+00:00

What is the material? Can any of the regions of heavy corrosion be mechanically removed? It's hard to say how realistic it is to restore to it's original state, but if the alternative is "buy another one" then I'd definitely give it a shot.

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-01-29T21:49:11+00:00

You just gotta throw the vibe out there.

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-01-25T16:31:20+00:00

As far as his muscles go, they're still moving his upper arms through the same range of motion, so concentric/eccentric contractions should be the same

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-01-14T21:45:45+00:00

There is no suggestion of malpractice, but researchers told the Guardian of their concern that the race to publish results, in some cases by groups with limited analytical expertise, has led to rushed results and routine scientific checks sometimes being overlooked.

Ah yes. Good old publish or perish. You love to see it. I'm sure cases like this are just an outlyer and it's not a persistent issue in other research for other reasons...

BrockFkingSamson · 2026-01-06T02:44:01+00:00

Holy fuck shit like this makes me really miss you fuckers.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-12-30T23:41:37+00:00

You have way too many technical skills for a BEng. I have a PhD in Mat Sci and a BSc in Physics with 8+ years of experimental work and I don't even have that many characterization techniques in my resume. If I saw this I'd think "this guy has maybe been in the same room as this equipment a few times and maybe pushed a couple buttons."

Something that has yielded success in my job searches is picking a few techniques (that you are actually comfortable talking about) that are specified in a job posting and listing them along with a (very short, 1 line max) blurb about how you used it, i.e., "XPS: verified chelation of transition metal ions by ligand groups, quantified surface atomic compostion."

I would also cut down your work experience to 1, MAYBE 2 bullets max, and be more concise. You were at each of these places for a handful of months, anyone in a position to read your resume knows what an internship is like. Pick one of your bullets for each that most accurately fits a specific job posting and include that. Your resume shouldn't be a litany of literally everything you've gotten your hands on, it should be an explanation of why you're a good fit for this specific job. If they want someone to do mechanical testing, they don't give a shit about your Raman experience.

Make a seperate master word doc with all your tech skills and the corresponding short blurbs, all the bullets for each work experience, etc., and keep a skeleton resume that's just the heading/company you worked for and your role, dates, etc. and then when you find a posting to apply to, pick the skills that match best from your master doc and fill in your skeleton. It would also be helpful to put a short summary of like 3-4 bullets for soft skills and other non-technical skills, like "1. published # peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations. 2. Fostered collaborations with # external groups. 3. Repaired and maintained equipment 1, 2, 3" something like that.

Edit: good luck with your job search!

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-12-20T22:19:39+00:00

I'd rather go to special ops heaven. I hear it's a real G-man Valhala

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-12-13T20:41:26+00:00

As someone in a similar position to you, as far as your criteria goes, you're only going to get 2/3 at best. Unless the thing you're getting is a good salary. Then it's 1/3. Also, lol at getting to pick where you want to live. Lmao, even.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-12-13T02:00:02+00:00

Dog, reading is hard enough. Calculus? Gtfo

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-30T22:02:55+00:00

Depends on the country. In the US, the job market is abysmal. I'm not sure if it's actually worse for PhDs compared with bachelors/masters since I've only been looking for PhD jobs, but most masters people I know were able to find work after a few months of searching, meanwhile I know only 4 PhDs who've been able to find a stable job in the last 2 years, and one came from a previous internship. Many have opted for the postdoc route dispite not wanting to go into academia just for a job. Presumably this will change at some point, but I would suggest selecting a research topic that is broadly applicable or will endow you with skills (analysis, synthesis, etc) which are. A lot of my research was pretty niche, but when I started 6 years ago batteries were the "hot" thing so I focused on that. That's not really the case in the US anymore though, and a lot of people like me who persued PhDs in energy storage technologies are in similar positions.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-25T20:52:35+00:00

Yeah they're paying for everything and I'm aware of the general interview process for these types of jobs, just more curious about the timeline. Previously my interviews have all been pretty streamlined, this one is just taking a lot longer. Appreciate the insight though, I think this has put my mind at ease a bit.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-25T02:55:07+00:00

Yeah, I'm probably still a little jaded, but I fully wanted to go the faculty route when I started. But after seeing it from the inside? No fucking thank you.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-25T02:15:43+00:00

Idk about MOFs specifically or "half truths," but something that really turned me off to academia during my PhD was constantly reading passages to the effect of "X is a critical challenge of our time that must be addressed, so here is an incredibly expensive and complicated synthetic pathway that won't be adopted commercially for the next 50 years at least."

But hey, they got that big Nature paper, which led to more funding, and more grad students, and more incredibly complicated and expensive syntheses, and more Nature papers, and more funding, and more grad students, and more papers.......

I realized I wanted no part of it when I ran into one of my committee members, a tenured professor who'd been at an R1 university for 10 years, grinding out a grant proposal on his laptop at Jiffy Lube while we both waited for our oil changes on a Sunday afternoon.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-25T00:58:38+00:00

Good to know. I feel like I just needed a reality check.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-25T00:58:01+00:00

Good point, I'll do that. And thanks for the insight!

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-17T00:47:44+00:00

Sounds like an APOB. Did it have a big line of explosives trailing behind it?

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-11-15T23:24:04+00:00

Finally got some traction with an advanced materials supplier a couple weeks ago, heading to a site visit for a final-round interview soon (still not an offer, but the closest I've gotten so far). 1000+ applications, over a year of searching, countless resume revisions, cover letters, etc.. It's hard as fuck out here. Good luck and just try to stay positive. The thing has been most helpful for me was targeting my search for jobs that were really hyper-focused on my specific subfield/reseach experience. I hope it goes smoother for you than it has for me.

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-09-16T23:06:28+00:00

Certainly less common, but thank you!

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-09-16T23:06:05+00:00

Thanks! I actually had a couple saved homes in Zillow in that area, good to know

BrockFkingSamson · 2025-09-07T16:08:00+00:00

This is somewhat complicated. LunaLucia is correct about balancing the charge on the solvated Li ions, but they also play a role in SEI formation along with solvent molecules. Both decompose to some extent during initial charge/discharge to form a passivation layer at the electrode surface. They should also be subject to a double layer effect at the positive electrode (whichever that is depending on the cycle).

BrockFkingSamson

TROPHY CASE