Pursue a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or startup?

[Explore]

Hey guys,

I am notoriously bad at decisions and after I have watched the latest video "How to be Decisive" multiple times I still cannot make this decision. 

So, I cannot make a decision regarding what I find to be the two roads to take. Should I pursue a Ph.D. in Mechcanical Engineering or pursue a startup?

Basically, I am at the final stages in my MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and about to write my final thesis and I am about to decide between two subjects. Each subjects could lead to different career paths. 

Ph.d. 

Essentially, if I choose write my MSc thesis in developing a 3D printer which prints fibre-reinforced plastic (composite material), I could continue in academia with would very high likelihood lead to a paid ph.d. programme of around 4K USD/month scholarship for 3 years. I would be focusing on developing the 3D printer and combine it with topology optimization and generation of G-Codes to optimally lay the fiber direction of the printed CAD parts. This advancements leads to a huge potential in manufacturing ultra lightweight components which can be used in aviation, drones, marine, automotive industry, etc. 

In aviation/aerospace context, this means, reducing the weight would mean lower power consumption / increased flight time as well as reduction of material processes in manufacturing - leading up a more sustainable development of components compared to manufacturing of fibre reinforced plastics done today.

Startup

Another route to take is development of a fixed-wing VTOL drone drone for data collection in meteorological studies. Basically utilizing the knowledge I have within CAD modelling, aerodynamics, topology optimization, 3D printing to write my MSc thesis in which would be a springboard to create a solid business startup within this field. Basically, I cannot get too much in details with this, since my partners agreed not to share it publicly, but basically, it would impact positively a lot of people economically. 

Pros & Cons

The pros of deciding on a ph.d. would be to develop and hone my skills in a field I would anyway want to develop my skills in and get more technically advanced to commit to a ph.d. programme. The cons would be to be locking myself for this field for three years in academia with a fixed salary cap. I am not intending to do stay in academia and I would exit as I finish it.

The pros of deciding to go the entrepreneurial route, would be to have more autonomy of the direction of the company (along with two of my engineer partners) and earn a decent salary once the company starts taking off or even secure a salary through funding. Cons would be that our young technical competences are still at an early stage and would require more expertise to carry the project to a mature stage.  

I am sincerely not boasting or anything, please don't take it as that, but I am just assessing my situation, and I wish for your input to which direction would be the best to take!

Edited August 9, 2022 by Explore
Needed to be clear regarding focus of the post

[Realms of Wonder]

Which one are you most afraid of?

[Explore]

@Realms of Wonder Well, regarding the drone project it would be that both of my partners are intending to move to another country eventually. One wants to move to Asia and another one to Iceland while we are all staying in Denmark right now. It would make it a bit difficult to run a business like that.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Explore

[Dryas]

https://youtu.be/D92-LbNN77M

 

 

[Tudo]

I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm just starting my own business, no way I would pursue a Ph.D.

[Felliks]

Han bruh AI's gonna make that material in a year's time, if you got Your masters stick to making scalable money, you can always get it in Your 40s. You can't invest 10-12 hours working a day in your 40's.

That under an assumption you already have a Masters, if not I'd focus on that first.

[Byun Sean]

Pretend both would lead you to earning the same amount of money. (Just a thought experiment) Which one are you more drawn to independent of pay?

which one intuitively feels more fulfilling? Why?

[Yarco]

PhD = safety and comfort but dooming yourself to a life of mediocrity

Startup = high risk of failure but more fulfilling with infinite upside, and you retain the ability to pivot into something else if your interests change.

It's okay to take the guaranteed $100k/year for just showing up to a job, most people do. If you think you could be fulfilled just living a standard life.

For me I guess the big thing is if I retain intellectual property on this groundbreaking new 3D printing material that i write my thesis about. If it becomes public domain or something because I'm unable to patent it, and all the big companies would profit off my work and research for free and I get no royalties, and there's nothing i can do to keep the recipe secret, f*** that.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Yarco

[flowboy]

@Explore  You're not thinking longterm enough with this one.

What type of future do you envision for yourself?

Do you want to be an entrepreneur (creating companies, waging war on the status quo through innovation, potentially rich, but also potentially broke, perhaps both multiple times, lots of deep emotional ups and downs, hard work, stress, less family time)?

In that case, better start now, because there's lots of hard lessons that can only be learnt through experience.

In fact, if you have an idea that is worth pursuing, you'd be stupid to let it go, depending on, again, do you want to be an entrepreneur.

You may have to convince your business partners to stay in the same country for the next few years, or get different business partners, or pursue it alone if you have the drive. If they don't think the business is worth sticking around in the same country for, or their travel dreams are more important, they don't have their priorities straight and you should cut them loose, because a business is never going to work if it's not priority nr 1 for everyone.

 

Or do you want to be a scientist, researcher, having a kushy job learning, researching, discovering, teaching, and lots of time off to chill and take vacations, while being paid well? Perhaps write some books or do some consulting later?

Would you mind if other people took this drone idea and made it work, while you just go to your stable job every day, not getting rich but always being paid decently?

A lot of people would choose that.

I think the central question is: can you be happy as a part of the system, or not?

Entrepreneuring is hard. Way harder than studying and getting jobs.

People do it because they have no choice. They just don't have the type of personality that would be happy being part of a system. You could pay them 200K a year and they still resent being told what to do, and still crave freedom.

If you can be happy fitting in, and have some things decided for you, and you just want to get paid a decent stable salary to work in a field that interests you, then go for the PhD.

If you're a rebel, you hate groupthink and fitting in, you crave total freedom and control of your destiny, then don't.

Edited November 18, 2022 by flowboy

[Kanddle]

Here's the deal. Suppose none of you have built a successful business before. In that case, your odds of failure are leagues higher than if the person leading the effort has run their first rodeo successfully or at least with some progress towards success. In that case, I'd recommend you follow a strategy and your gut. 

 

It would be a good idea to see if you can stall the Ph.D. program if you get accepted (6 months), then pursue the startup to gain experience. If there's no appropriate action within those six months, jump back to your Ph.D. and work the startup part-time. You can always return to building a startup within the aerospace industry after gaining 3D printing design and manufacturing experience. 

[Kanddle]

On 11/18/2022 at 6:07 AM, flowboy said:

Entrepreneuring is hard. Way harder than studying and getting jobs.

 

Preach!!!! Somebody I know is arrogant because they recently got a job at Google. I was thinking to myself, "you and 100,000 other people. You're the 3rd in my social network to get in. Stop overestimating yourself." 

Compared to running a business, getting a job (a really good one) only takes 3-4 months of studying at max, but lately, it's only taken me a couple of weeks with my experience (both running companies and doing high-tech shit). I see jobs as way easier than entrepreneurship.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Kanddle