Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD) comics writer Dr. Jorge Cham in Vancouver

If you are or were even remotely associated with academia in the past few years, say you were a graduate student doing your PhD or thinking of applying for a doctoral degree, it is very likely that you read Dr. Jorge Cham’s excellent comic strip – Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD). Dr. Cham came to Vancouver to give three talks, hosted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Child and Family Research Institute and co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Society and GrasPods, BCCRC.

I had an opportunity to attend one of the three lectures that Dr. Cham delivered (I know he is easy going and he doesn’t mind being called Jorge, but I have to admit that I have been feeling lately more inclined to make people call me Dr. Raul, just because hey, I *did* manage to complete my PhD!). And on this topic I had a chance to talk briefly with Jorge one-on-one and mention that reading Piled Higher and Deeper contributed to my sanity during the course of my PhD.

(c) Dr. Jorge Cham. Used with permission

Don’t get me wrong. My supervisor and my doctoral committee were absolutely supportive and really insightful, helped me a lot along the way, and were instrumental in me being able to obtain the degree. However, reading PhDComics always brought a smile to my face and allowed me to think about academia in a much lighter and less worrisome way. Jorge shared some worrisome statistics on the pressure that graduate students feel (only to, you know, making about the same amount of money that someone working at McDonald’s would make! — Jorge presented data to support this claim).

I didn’t do a PhD for the money, that is definitely for sure. I did it because it was gratifying to study phenomena and trying to understand the world. I love research, and that’s one of the reasons why I started a separate research blog – to communicate my findings and my experiences studying the phenomena I choose to research and be able to reach to a broader audience. Of course, I also love teaching and doing consulting work. But I am still interested in answering questions, in thinking hard, in analyzing and examining phenomena, in trying to create new methods and theories and applying innovative empirical research methods.

In short, it was a pleasure to talk to Jorge in person, I really enjoyed his talk and I definitely will stay in touch. I’m just kind of slightly surprised he is NOT on Twitter. But I might just convince him to change that And if you’re in academia (or even remotely thinking of doing a PhD), read PhDComics. Trust me, it will definitely do good to you!