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I recently got my PhD in CS at a European university, and I could directly translate many of the points from chemistry to the CS field. The article is 20+ years old, yet it somehow seems universal even today. I did a LOT of overtime, and often "just" to make a decent work that I wouldn't be ashamed to put my name on. I also met other grad students who wasted most of their time at the office on trivia (lunch, coffee, newspapers), people who rarely talked to their supervisors, people only superficially interested in their work, as well as people who did not really like what they were doing, yet they were striving to do their best. During my PhD years I learned at least as much about myself, academia and different kinds of people that I'm going to meet later in life, as about CS. One of the most important lessons was learning how to handle people who treat their work as a 9-5 chore instead of something to excel in.

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Long time ago, while I was still an undergrad student, I asked one of the professors about grad studies. We had a long talk, from which I remember two things. 1: your PhD topic does not determine the rest of your scientific career (he shifted his area of interests a number of times). 2: whatever you do, always have a pen and small notebook with you. The latter has proven to be a golden piece of advice.



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