PhD students in ML, how many hours on average do you work? [D]

PhD Students in ML: How Many Hours on Average Do You Work?

I generally work around 9–10 hours a day, but not contiguously. I can usually carve out a dedicated chunk of time in the morning for research or writing, take lab or project meetings in the afternoon, and block out around 6–8 PM for commute, exercise, socializing, and dinner. Evening is often when my focus is best, so that’s where I tend to get more work done.

On weekends, I mostly run errands and try new food spots, but I also make sure to do at least a little bit of work every day. To manage this efficiently, I schedule my Slurm jobs so they run when I’m not actively working, allowing me to collect results once I return. When I don’t have any Slurm jobs running, I feel anxious.

Additionally, I rely on coding agents to help with tasks like data preprocessing and experiment management. While these tools increase my perceived productivity by reducing the time spent waiting for them to finish, they also introduce periods where I’m simply waiting for these agents to think.

I am in my third year as a PhD student at a top-5 program in my field within the US. This quarter, I have finished all classes and no longer TA. My focus is on targeting three main ML conferences (though consistency across deadlines would be ideal), along with core NLP venues and journals.

Key Takeaways

• I generally work around 9–10 hours a day, spread throughout the day to maximize productivity.
• Scheduling Slurm jobs allows me to manage my research more effectively during my free time.
• Coding agents help streamline tasks but also introduce periods of waiting and can be overwhelming at times.

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