Confusion in PhD

Confusion always exists in PhD, but at different levels. For people who are fresh or they have a clear and well-defined problem statement, it would be easier. For me it was very tough because I changed my field unintentionally. My BS was software engineering, for MS I shifted to IT management and my Dissertation subject was about ERP Implementation in Steel Company. I wanted to continue my PhD in IT management as well. I applied for some American universities. However, Business is very competitive field in the US, especially at PhD level. My GMAT score was not that much high to compete with other candidates probably. Anyway, I did not have any other options but Malaysia. In Malaysia, after one year and half and changing a supervisor, the condition forced me to change the subject as well. Suddenly, I end up in Data Mining area! Because the new supervisor belonged to AI department! OMG, what am I doing here? It was late. However, there were not other way! If I wanted to move to another university, it was costly and time consuming process. Nevertheless, I liked this new area more than ERP that I was working on it before. So, I decided to learn everything from scratch. The most difficult part was that nobody was here to help me!

Sometime I get a headache. I have some papers that are speaking in advance level and I even do not know the terminology of the new area. It was a nightmare at the beginning. SVM? What is it? Threshold! OMG. It is very, very complicated sometimes. You think that you are a moron in the Neverhood. But, I am thankful that we are living in the world with the Internet. I should confess my teachers were the YouTube, Google and online courses. I do not know what did I do if there was no internet!

I do not know, maybe you that reading this post have such condition and you are in confusion. My advice as a person who was in high pressure and very long confusion is to use the Internet to teach yourself and be patient. I know sometime you are thinking of leaving the PhD and come back to your ex-life. However, I promise you, if you remain strong and patient, gradually this confusion will disappear. I agree it is very difficult, but all of us for a reason stared the PhD. Where there is a will, there is a way. Communicate with other scholar around the world, use the power of the cyber world. We can do it. I am sure.