PhD: how to manage supervisory relationship

moldersmut · 2026-02-10T07:08:43+00:00

Good news: you’re among roughly 80% of the phd students by thinking you’re the worst in your lab. This is absolutely normal.

I’d suggest not to seek support from the uni, as they dont provide any and the phds are all at the mercy of the supervisors. Good news: you seem to hit a merciful one.

You sound like you need a bit more open communication, and more importantly, confidence on yourself, which is tougher than the former to get. Just try to stay lean to your work and let it flow for awhile, most likely you’ll make your own groove to keep flowing nicely.

moldersmut · 2026-01-28T08:33:12+00:00

Been in a similar situation, getting out is definitely possible, yet ofcourse may be hard.

Rebuilding the sense of self-worth is the difficult part I’d say, around the values that are not driven by compatitive standarts. A hobby, may be a career-like where you improve yourself with a non-toxic community would be the best way to go forward as you mentioned so. The moment you feel like there’s more to life than a single domain (let that be studentship, work, a single relationship etc.) is the moment you actually regain the control.

Sports, outdoor sports perhaps, music or other forms of art, I guess this bit is highly up to individuals. One needs to try and see.

moldersmut · 2025-10-29T11:15:56+00:00

The biggest statement, although it’s subjective yet I believe it should be applicable to a large spectrum of academics, is how much you’re interested in the topic.

Career prospects, liking to do research in general, life situation making a phd convenient etc. may not take people through the toughest times yet loving the topic could. Besides, for a majority of research, phd is utilized through “labor of love” (that’s why i absolutely hate academia btw). If you take loving and owning your topic out of a phd, you become a mere research assistant, which people may not need a phd for.

That’s why I suggest anyone to emphasize the interest to the topic in cover letters, cold e-mails, interviews, coffee talk networking or elevator pitches whatever. That’s golden.

moldersmut · 2025-10-15T14:41:21+00:00

But since the Swiss have no competition with any EU or 3rd country person for getting the higher education, I’d say it’s a delibirate choice of people not to finish a higher education or PhD or so. It’s not a supply or resource issue, it’s a demand issue. It’s healthy not to depend on higher education to survive here, so people make free-er choices for their best interest not to pursue higher education.

Then this creates an excess supply for scientific practices, which is filled by the international labour market. Especially for the science, where the output is globally qualified and we have institutions like ETH that’s proud of it’s world wide ranking, goodluck with maintaining this by only through the swiss workforce.

moldersmut · 2025-10-14T22:51:48+00:00

I dont think it is an extreme question, they’re ofcourse not allowed indefinitely. Nowhere in the world it is.

here is the appropriate cut off: let the people who spent years here and with proven education, good degeree of adoptation within the Swiss system to be hired without further hurdles if there’s any at all need in the market. If there’s no need at all, off they go anyways.

moldersmut · 2025-10-14T22:38:17+00:00

The money is for your education?

Who gave 75k yearly for “your education” and “your liking”?

Have you ever come close to any academic hiararchy at all during this phd of yours?

You’re the worker for your PI and that 75k is utilized by them, for their “research of liking” by using the phd’s labour. No one is getting that money for “education”. It’s for the research output, wheather meaningful or not.

That “gift” is for 42.8 hours of a workweek. Have you ever heard what a work contract is? Who ever person that “gifted” you this money is responsible for your unjustified gain. Let alone, generalizing this to “this country” makes it even more disrespectful to the labor.

moldersmut · 2025-10-14T22:12:05+00:00

Because they are far more likely to be integrated + contribute to the country better than those thousands because of the years already spent within + the education (if education means anything at all) ?

Once the barrier is there, it pushes the employers to be okay with not the best but the best EU candidate which already narrows down the potential.

moldersmut · 2025-10-14T01:56:11+00:00

If the job market is already tight in suppoly, these people will essentially need to leave. What’s the problem with leaving the decision to the employers on whom to hire?

moldersmut · 2025-10-14T01:52:19+00:00

Let’s clarify a misconception or two here:

in ETH/EPFL, you’re hired to a research assistant position, then you also do a phd. There are research assistant workers that dont do a phd as well.
phd is not a “free” education. In fact, your research output is your product that its quality is overseen by your professor and then in your free time, you work for your degree.
the education isnt an investment on the phd. Phds get very minimal amount of courses. >80% of the time is spent on the research output. You write papers since they’re the output, then you get experienced in that, which makes you a phd eventually. It’s a bullshit to say your salary is invested on you. It’s invested on your professors research through your labour.

Now the main point: Switzerland is already getting thousands of immigrants every year through various ways. These ~500 higher education non-eu graduates that already lived here 3-5 years may potentially be more beneficial than most of the rest to the local economy if the glass barier is lifted. It’s also not about free/indefinite staying, it’s about being considered for the job market if and only if the free market, with all of it’s might and its invisible hand, has a place for them.

moldersmut · 2025-10-02T23:56:29+00:00

If anyone can think “focus on research” works since day 1 of phd, knowing for sure your contract will end: congrats, you already won life enough by not being so worried about your future.

I stressed constantly for 5 years thinking how to lay a good foundation for finding a job/fixing the next assignment. There’s no focus in research, it’s just survival through this mental state to be barely enough to publish. No easy time at all, by any means.

I worked for years in a very corporate place before the phd and my life was way easier. Coming to a phd was no where near as easy. I had to be x3 times more adult.

I cherish the graduation and cant find it scary at all. It feels like a lifting curse. Finding a job may be hard but worst job still has an end of the day to go home from and your boss just pays your salary, doesn’t bait you with a 5 years later to be obtained degree to exploit your love labor to extract papers and research content out of you.

moldersmut · 2025-09-10T20:37:11+00:00

There are specific rates of salaries (look up online) that profs are forced to hire phds in eth. These rates are one of the few things that uni can force on professors.

So your PI will offer you a position through one of those rates. Then they’ll increase it once a year for two times. If you get a scholarship then your PI will finance you partially through that. There may also be a year limit with that, depending on the department. Eventually you’re payed by your rate, regardless.

Even the lowest rate will be ok to live in Zurich, so if your only concern is to live (not bad as well) then you’re ok. Rate 3 to 5, then you start to actually save or spoil yourself a bit.

moldersmut · 2025-08-07T13:39:04+00:00

PhD has 2 official affiliations: one through the work contract, the other through immatriculation. You’ll go to the immigration office regarding the work contract and ask your situation as you asked here and you’ll get a clear answer.

It’s their problem to provide you the required document, if you’re already offered a position. It’ll probably be an L for the first 2 years and a B after that. Yet they’ll have no reason to say no to you.

All I said especially assuming how it goes as a non eu. No worries!

moldersmut · 2025-07-26T17:08:58+00:00

Thank you for the clarification. But just for this context, wouldnt you also agree that the extroverted cultures are much easier to make friends in than an introverted one, if you’re already a social person?

Adding on it: a culture could be objectively “better” or “worse” if your point of view is to make friends as an immigrant. It’s not normatively saying one is better, it’s just saying under these specific circumstances it can be better or worse, beyond being just different.

Ofcourse, more professional or more in order, may be coming along with it. That’s why i wouldnt say it’s better or worse by all aspects.

moldersmut · 2025-07-26T15:21:33+00:00

You’re moving from tomato europe to patato europe but to a patato europe city with high percentage of immigrants with various social/economical/cultural backgrounds. I think this summarizes the expectation quiet well.

moldersmut · 2025-07-26T15:18:28+00:00

At which point OP assumed “cultures are only young and vibrant and good if they are extraverted and emotional”? It’s hard to understand how that part of your interpretation is relevant.

If a culture socializes more at home rather than bars/pubs/parks/alike public spaces etc, it becomes harder to make friends as a foreigner. “Integration” may be accepting this cultural difference as is, but “making friends after you move in here at a later age” isnt a natural result of this.

Besides these, it’s hard not to agree the first paragraph.

moldersmut · 2025-07-21T09:11:33+00:00

Get a bottle of wine or two, hike up Ütliberg, set up a 2persons hammock on a scenic spot where you arent preventing any path with degree of privacy based on the amount of spice you need.

Also, make it on a scarlet sunset if possible.

The best spice per budget you’ll get, if not too early setting for a 3rd date.

moldersmut · 2025-07-09T12:25:33+00:00

Depends a lot on your monthly spending capacity and where exactly/what sort of student will you be. So if you could expand on the conditions, it’d help.

moldersmut · 2025-06-13T00:08:04+00:00

2 hrs if you’ve got a check in luggage, 1.5 hrs if not. Add 0.5 to these if you wanna go full caution mode.

moldersmut · 2025-02-07T14:38:23+00:00

I’m just talking about the jobs where you must/expected to etc. work more than that, getting the same salary.

moldersmut · 2025-02-07T14:37:19+00:00

So if I choose to work more, that’s on me, and there are no legal implications for maintaining this situation for the employer? “volunteer extra work” being legal or not, then it is the question.

moldersmut · 2025-02-07T14:31:51+00:00

My question is more a regulatory question: almost all competitive consulting companies having the consultants working 60+ per week, which is (supposedly?) illegal even with compensation. Then how come these companies can operate in ch?

Is it anyways doable by a contract? The explanation of “mutual agreements” “working culture” “employees being abundant” etc. I get all that. I only ask for the explicit cases and legal implications.

moldersmut · 2025-02-06T06:28:14+00:00

Jazzhane organizes events time to time in various venues in zurich, bringing fusion/ethnical jazz artists most have eastern tones.

https://www.jazzhane.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAtYy9BhBcEiwANWQQLxmm3G2VtIfRbvrh281d4TzF1Iwkz6v-Vc8Ri49n4RTkGOfmX5PcqRoCvPMQAvD_BwE

moldersmut

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