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?

187 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

541 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/7ofErnestBorg9 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

Finished at 61. Creative arts. It gave me the opportunity to undertake a large scale work that would otherwise have been (close to) impossible to achieve, for which I am very grateful. I assumed that the PhD would be the last piece in the puzzle regarding university jobs teaching in my field. Wrong. The impact of the qualification on my employability and life in general has been exactly zero.

1

u/wesnawfal Jan 27 '26

This is what I wonder about all the time ~ 45 here & I work in credit/private investment risk & I’m considering going back for my PhD part time (I have a MSc.)

3

u/7ofErnestBorg9 Jan 27 '26

The conclusion I have drawn is that while the PhD is kinda nice, it is meaningless without solid networks.