Lies Academics Believe

PhD candidate looks into a mirror

August 02, 2022

  • I cannot be happy outside academia
  • If it is novel, it is useful
  • If it is useful, it is publishable
  • Engineering does not matter
  • Presentations do not matter
  • Writing does not matter
  • I will build and they will come
  • Pedantry and insight are the same thing
  • Critiquing and creating are the same skills
  • This class will help my research
  • This class won’t help my research
  • Research area X is useless
  • Research area Y is the ultimate truth
  • Idea matters more than the execution
  • Execution matters more than the idea
  • Citation count indicates how smart someone is
  • Industry does not do anything novel
  • Industry does the hard 20% needed to make something real
  • Everything was invented in the 80s

Addressed to my future self


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