vault backup: 2025-03-31 08:39:54

9999 Personal/Journal/20250331_Should_I_Continue.md

@@ -33,4 +33,28 @@ in part to the HARDENS report, which tried to use formal methods tools at severa
 layers of abstraction to prove that a written requirement can be translated into 
 a proof for a determined plant design. There is certainly work to be done there.
 
-But is that work that I want to do?
+But is that work that I want to do? My brain says I could do it, but my gut 
+screams out a vehement no. This is the core issue--I know I could do it, but 
+once I would finish, where does that leave me? The answer: a formal methods 
+expert. Formal methods experts are highly sought after, but it is an intensely
+theoretical oriented field. When I think about what I want to do in my career 
+and what my values are, they are not only working through a computer (despite
+my aptitude for such). I want to build real things, works you can touch, and
+that interact with the world. A formal methods proof about a reactor that *might*
+get built is not in that alignment. 
+
+So what the hell do I do? As I write this, it seems pretty clear the relationship
+between myself and the Cole Lab's work is fractured. Going forward, I see three
+main options:
+
+1) Find another PhD advisor at Pitt. Bajaj is an obvious choice.
+2) Master out and go find a job.
+3) Go find another PhD opportunity somewhere else. Yichen did this.
+
+Pros and cons of each situation:
+
+1) Find another PhD advisor at Pitt
+    + I would be able to keep my NRC Fellowship
+    + I know people here already
+    + I've already passed the qualifying exam
+