What Is Ph.D. or Doctorate Degree?

When I was I B.Tech I don’t know what is PhD or doctorate degree (I am not talking about honorary doctorate 😉 )? and how to reach there. But I know there is some degree called PhD that can fetch $40000 a year. Are you surprised.. yes many does including my grandfather. He always used to say I want to see your salary, and I used to say you will have to wait for a long time, because my salary in Dollars not rupees. He passed away before he sees that. May Allah forgive him and elevate his and his wife’s levels in heavens.

You might ask how this crazy guy knew that PhD can get that money. Whereas knowing salary is just almost not possible as accurate as he is saying. I know and I was sure about the figure. Just because I saw it so many times I cannot forget it. How and where? I was and still am big information consumer. Just keep reading stuff I get, especially magazine and tech journals. I spent much of my life in college library, not reading all the time though. I did almost everything there, talking, eating, sleeping, and of course was there after bunking my classes. At the end of IEEE journals there used to be calls for Assistant Professors, young passionate fresh PhD candidates, expected salary was $40000 annually and …

When I was in B.Tech for me PhD was a degree and a solid cash cow. I surprised to why not everyone is trying that, but didn’t had the answer for that. Also I realized that I need to have a master degree for going to PhD. So the next obvious step was to go M.Tech without even giving a second thought. I joined M.Tech and studies well, gave my best during this time. On the same time, the perception of PhD also changed because of M.Tech dissertation and Professor’s demand and expectations. I started thinking that PhD only from IITs and IISc s can fetch that figure, but can take huge time. This uncertainty about the time makes many leave the dream even before it evolves.

Before Joining Phd, I felt it is one of the toughest degrees to join in that has so many constraints and conditions apart from just academic record. After joining PhD, it was cool degree but comes with a combination of factors. It’s not just reading and writing papers, it’s a prefect mixture of studies, your social awareness, smartness to present idea and convince. It’s a perfect game of discipline, self-motivation, courage to follow an idea and test of one’s ability to stand up after an awesome failure.

If you ask me now what is PhD I would say it’s a prototype of life and you do everything PhD, what we do in entire life. The biggest challenge is to understand it, learn from it and cherish every moment of it. Just getting a PhD don’t bring anything. But real learning come from desire to learn spends time to understand its dynamics and have fun learning.

For me and many other friends from my lab, it bought great prosperity along with a confidence to take decisions, apply them, learn from mistakes and grow higher. PhD is just not a degree it’s a prototype of entire life.

This is a part of a guide I m preparing for PhD in India. Do have a look other post too form an idea about PhD, just dont jump in without knowing the depth of waters. Do like subscribe for further updates about PhD, Engineering and other studies. Do like InI on facebook for information in facebook.

Wish you all a great luck ahead.