Comment: My life as a PhD student

One month in the quiet, ice-covered Arctic Ocean with stunningly beautiful nature. Five weeks inside a huge freezer, that simulates an artificial Arctic environment. Several months struggling with an uncooperative instrument.

Life as a PhD student is as fascinating as it is frustrating. It combines adventures with the exciting and educational life of a student and the challenging work life of a researcher, all in one package.

I started my PhD studies full of excitement and curiosity – it was my first real job. I was curious to experience all the different aspects of the work and, at the same time, I was concerned whether I could live up to the expectations of my two supervisors and myself.

Here is what I thought: being a PhD student is serious, and if you really want to take it somewhere you not only need to work hard, you also need talent. When I started I did not know what I wanted to do after the PhD. I just knew I needed to do a good job in order to keep as many future opportunities open as possible. So I knew that it would be hard work, but I was also hoping to be able to continue spending time with family and friends, traveling and pursuing my hobbies.

Finding a balance

Fortunately, I was positively surprised. I definitely work more than 40 hours a week on average, often in the evening and on weekends. However, the working hours are flexible, and I still find time to do things in my spare time. The amount of traveling that comes with the job provides a great opportunity to take time off and explore new places. I have been snorkeling in the Caribbean after a conference, I have been hiking in Svalbard before a research cruise, and I have been on a city vacation in Hamburg prior to a month of field work. Just to mention a few.

One of the really great things about being a PhD student is that no two days are the same. It is hard to describe a normal day since the job offers a wide variety of tasks, including field work, teaching, planning of experiments, data processing and writing. Looking back on the first two years of my time as a PhD student, I realize that I have spent about half of the time in front of the computer and the other half in the field or in the laboratory. In fact, I have spent almost three months working in Arctic environments – real or artificial.

Some say a PhD position is a lonely job. Personally, I think it has the perfect balance between independent work and collaboration. I spend most of my time working alone which is something I really enjoy. At the same time, supervisor meetings, conferences, teaching and taking courses give me the human contact and stimulation that I need. Generally, I manage my own working hours, which is a huge advantage because it allows me to balance different tasks in the way that I prefer. That said, I have a research goal and certain deadlines I must meet, and these sometimes determine how I spend my time.

The other side of the coin

Being a PhD student is not always a walk in the park. It can be stressful at times, especially around deadlines or when I am starting up a new experiment. At those times, my working hours tend to increase drastically. In particular, I remember one experiment where I had to get up around 5 am and go to bed around 1 am – every day – for an entire week. It was challenging at the time, though I can now look back with amusement at the times I showed up at the institute exhausted every morning, wearing old, relaxed clothes, sporting my morning hair.

With a PhD position comes responsibility – the kind of responsibility that I was unused to as a student, when educational goals, curriculums and deadlines were predetermined. I was never an irresponsible student, but taking responsibility for my career is completely different. Every choice I make, shapes my future. This is really frightening but, at the same time, an important experience to gain.

I am sure all PhD students witness periods with doubts, frustrations or stress. Having fellow PhD students to talk to is important, but my supervisors have played a major role in helping me overcome the tough periods I have experienced so far. Fortunately, these periods have been short, and in general I enjoy being a PhD student, with all that this entails.

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