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100% agree. Life happens. Gaps shouldn't be an issue. I started my PhD in 2012, and I will defend it in a few months. It took me 7 years in part because I had two surgeries (including one in emergency) with months of recovery. But there is no way to write that on my resume. 1/ @SeanDEhrlich/1092140611661111296
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Mood -2 🙁
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Just to reassure everyone, it was nothing serious, and I'm 100% good now! But I needed this (double) surgery, and unfortunately it was a type of surgery with really long post-op care – thank you, genes! (and the French social security too, it costed me 40€ for everything) 2/Permalink
Mood +8 🙂
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And now, when someone asks me in which year I am, I can usually feel some sort of embarrassment when I answer "7th year". "Oh, he is of *this* kind". The kind whom were suddenly told by their doctor "you need surgery right now and it will took 3 months to recover", right? 3/Permalink
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Productivity & creativity & ability to do research should be judged *conditionally* on what happened in one's life. It's not about making excuses, it's just that if you compare my "productivity" to someone who was 100% healthy during his PhD, sure, he probably did better. 4/Permalink
Mood +6 🙂
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I considered to write on my resume I've had two surgeries during my PhD, but someone discouraged me as it could "signal bad health". Like, what? 1) I'm cured and it's definitive 2) Are people with "bad health" intrinsically less able to be scientifically creative? 🤔 5/Permalink
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People who were sick, or women who were pregnant, shouldn't be left on the side of the road. Is there any proof that being sick or pregnant makes someone less suited for academia? It's only "true" because the power structure makes CV gaps a bad thing. It's 100% endogenous. 6/Permalink
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In other words, if we want more women in academia, we need to stop this "no gaps on CV" non-sense. How many creative women or people who were sick have we left because of this utterly inefficient policy? 7/Permalink
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Also, gaps (that are not medical/parental) can be a good thing. Maybe some academics can benefit from some time off, working in the industry or elsewhere. Not everyone can stay creative while staying in the same environment. Creativity comes from diversity. 8/Permalink
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Mood +7 🙂
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Anyway, that was my takes on the "no gaps on CV"! To wrap it up, sick people and pregnant women are not less valuable as academics because they were sick or pregnant. And if we want to change that, it's up to us to actually make the change! Have a good night everyone 🌃 9/9Permalink
Mood +1 🙂