This is one of the most loaded questions, and one of the most pervasive thoughts that flood the mind of the PhD grad student or postdoc (or even early stage faculty).

Will I have a happier life if I continue forward?

Will I be missing out on the promised life if I decide that I just can’t take it any more?

What if I get a job in industry, and discover that I hate it?  Won’t I be locked out of academia forever?

I’ve come this far – .

And these are the thoughts that .

The Transition Terrors

I was fortunate to be in a graduate program that was extremely open about the “alternative” career and the realities of job market. In our career development center, we had all the right books – books on interviewing, books on finding jobs that might interest you, workshops on giving better presentations and .

The problem?  Most grad students or postdocs never used these valuable resources – including me.  More importantly, .

The Key to Happiness – Owning Your Decisions

In the workplace, no matter where you’ll end up, you will come to crossroads where your decision will impact your future.  Working in a startup, and understanding other workplaces as complex as Fortune 500 corporate or as simple as a 3 person startup, you’ll find that there will always be happy and unhappy people.  No workplace is perfect, and more importantly, no workplace alone should give you your value or meaning.

“Happiness is not defined by how others see your degree – it’s defined by what satisfies you internally.”

The secret to being happy about anything in life is deciding that your decisions are yours, and that what you want is enough.

By Vay Cao, Ph.D.