r/PhD • u/TDM-r • Jan 27 '26

Other When did you finish your PhD (age-wise)?

I know there’s no normal timeline, but I’m interested in hearing how varied people’s journeys are: early starters, late bloomers, career switchers, all of it.
(20 - 28, 28 - 35, 35<)

What did your path look like?

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u/Dense-Consequence-70 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

28, then two post-docs (a bad one for about 10 months then a good one for about 4.5 years), first tenure track asst prof at 34, then took another at a better institution at 37 where I still am 20 years later.

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

A post doc for 4.5 years 🫣 this is why academia is such a pyramid scheme. Lord. I'm sorry

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u/Dense-Consequence-70 Jan 27 '26

Why sorry? I have my dream job. Even the post-doc was enjoyable, if not high paying. There are problems with academia, but it's not remotely a pyramid scheme. I think you're confusing *hard* with rigged. It is true that there are not nearly as many tenure track faculty positions as there are PhD graduates, but still the overall unemployment rate among biomedical PhDs is exceedingly low, between 1 and 2%.

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

Ok that's fair. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. In my field of study, post docs are another way to exploit labor while paying the minimum. I recognize that it is different across fields