The Doctor is (Linked) In

June 11, 2018 3:09 PM

My spouse just defended her (awesome) PhD thesis; she is now a doctor! This has raised a LinkedIn question. Her question is: does she list her name as "Dr Her Name" or "Her Name, PhD"? She asked my opinion about this, and I don't think my opinion is trustworthy on the subject, so, at her request, I'm asking y'all.

If it's relevant, her PhD is in maths, and she's a data scientist who works for a small tech startup; she's not super-actively looking for a new job, but keeps her eye on things and has an updated LinkedIn profile etc.

I also have a PhD and use "Dr My Name" in such contexts, finding that "My Name, PhD", while more specific, sounds really weird in the sort of professional context I'm used to (academia). But, I don't want to make a suggestion based on the wrong set of cultural norms for her field, where the "Name, PhD" construction may well sound less weird.

In any case, she will specify her exact qualification in the profile itself; this question is specifically about how her name/title appears on LinkedIn.

posted by busted_crayons to Work & Money (33 answers total)

Rightfully or not, outside of academia most people assume that "Dr." without any qualification means medical Dr. For that reason, "My Name, Ph.D." will be clearer. She can also use "Dr. My Name, Ph.D., if she wants to be complete, but I would not leave off the "Ph.D." part.
posted by brainmouse at 3:11 PM on June 11, 2018 [20 favorites]

her PhD is in maths

Look for other people with math phds in her country. If they almost all do it one way, do it that way. If it's split pretty evenly, nobody cares and she should do whichever tickles her fancy more.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:18 PM on June 11, 2018 [18 favorites]

I have a PhD in math and am a data scientist. I had “Madcap Tenor, Ph. D.” listed on my LinkedIn profile for a while, and I’ve seen this from some colleagues with doctoral degrees. I have not seen “Dr.”

That being said, I’m in the US. You said her PhD is in “maths”, which indicates you are not. So don’t trust me.
posted by madcaptenor at 3:19 PM on June 11, 2018 [7 favorites]

I'm a big user of LinkedIn. "Her Name, PhD" is standard and about ten times more common than the alternative.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 3:28 PM on June 11, 2018 [13 favorites]

I am an MD in the US, so not exactly the same situation, but I've always preferred 'Name, Degree'. It affords more clarity about the person's credentials. To me, this is more professional and academic than calling oneself 'Dr. ____.'
posted by aquamvidam at 3:31 PM on June 11, 2018 [7 favorites]

When I worked at a university in Germany, a colleague quietly informed me that addressing my department chair as Dr. rather than Professor would be considered disrespectful. In the US, using Dr. rather than PhD as your own title is pretentious. I’m not saying no one does it, but it doesn’t look good, especially to older people. Outside of the US, it’s a good idea to see what her peers are doing.
posted by FencingGal at 4:06 PM on June 11, 2018 [7 favorites]

I work in tech. I checked the profile for four of my colleagues with PhDs (US and Canada), and they are all listed as "My Name". The PhD is only indicated in the education section.
posted by crazycanuck at 4:22 PM on June 11, 2018 [8 favorites]

US academic here; don’t list doctoral title or degree in your name at all. It looks pretentious and naive. Just use your name. Like the author list on an academic article. Just names, no titles or degrees.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:27 PM on June 11, 2018 [37 favorites]

I work with a lot of people who have PhDs. The only ones who occasionally get called "Dr" or "Professor" are the ones who were actually tenured professors at some point (and even then, it is very rare). In the tech world, it's enough to have it in the academic portion of your resume. As someone who reviews lots of resumes, I occasionally see Candidate Name, PhD, never Dr. Candidate Name.
posted by ch1x0r at 4:28 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Her Name, PhD.
posted by theora55 at 4:33 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

If you're British (as I'm guessing from "maths"), from my observations, there's a lot more acceptance of (non-medical) "Dr. X" than there is in the U.S., perhaps because there are a lot more academic positions in the UK that don't carry the title "professor." (In the U.S., especially in the humanities but also to a lesser degree elsewhere, "Dr. X" means "couldn't get academic job, still want to use a title." Not a great look.) But I'm not sure why you'd include a title in your LinkedIn at all.
posted by praemunire at 4:33 PM on June 11, 2018

Also American, with a PhD in the hard sciences but with many math/data science PhD coworkers. None use PhD or Dr. in their linkedin profiles; PhD is listed solely under education. (I also list only under education). I'd agree, however, on looking for whatever people use in the country where you are (or where you'd be working or looking to work). Someone who uses "Name, PhD" to refer to themselves appears slightly off to me. Dr. So and so is used only within an educational system itself, and only for people who are *not* professor (ie, postdocs in a university setting, PhDs who are teaching at a high school level).
posted by annabear at 4:36 PM on June 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

Another vote for Her Name, Ph.D. or just Her Name.

I don't use Dr. My Name on things like LinkedIn any more than I would use Mrs. My Name on them. We're talking about the difference between using a title and indicating the degree. Upthread someone mentioned that medical doctors also use Their Name, M.D. and I've seen this to be true as well.

Congratulations to your spouse on her accomplishment!
posted by Knowyournuts at 4:46 PM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

There is a woman in my professional sphere who has a PhD from Harvard and, while she holds an academic appointment at an R1 university, she is not in a faculty position or a tenure-track line.

Her email reply-to name is "Dr. FirstName LastName." Her email signature says "Dr. FirstName LastName." Her letterhead signature block says "Dr. FirstName LastName," and when she signs her name to emails (separately from the auto-entered email signature,) she signs her name "Dr. FirstName LastName."

The repetition works, because she has firmly conveyed the message that she wishes to be referred to as Dr. FirstName. But she is regularly ridiculed, and she is the butt of jokes, and she has not done her reputation any favors.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:56 PM on June 11, 2018 [16 favorites]

Agree with mr_roboto. Don't list either in her display name on LinkedIn. Not to say that she hasn't earned the right to do so, butvery rarely do I ever come across someone with either the Dr. or the title (PhD, or for that matter, MD) in their display name on LinkedIn. When I do, though, I've found that its presence usually indicates that the person is trying to overcompensate in some way, or is simply listing it out of pretense. Neither are good signs. This is all out on the West Coast, so YMMV.
posted by un petit cadeau at 5:27 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

US PhD here, worked in both academia and tech. I don't put either Dr or PhD and I mildly judge those who do. May vary for other industries.
posted by redlines at 5:34 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

The PhDs I work with (also in data science) don't put PhD or Dr in their name on LinkedIn; their degree is only listed in the education section of their profile.
posted by noneuclidean at 6:15 PM on June 11, 2018

On LinkedIn, the very top of your profile has exactly three fields:

First Name
Last Name
Headline

The beginning of your Headline appears alongside your name in almost all LI listings and searches. So the graceful way to do this is:

First Name: Busty
Last Name: Crayons
Headline: PhD, Swanky Maths; Lecturer in Whatever, Institution Name.

I'm in Europe and just checked the profile of all the many PhDs I know and nobody -- nobody -- uses Doctor.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:23 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Definitely look at people in her career field - taking advice from other fields and other countries is going to give a wide range of answers. Even at my tiny school, many of the chemistry professors who had PhDs went by Dr. X. None of the professors in other departments did.

All that being said, my husband is a PhD in the tech industry and he goes by Mudd Dude, PhD when his title is relevant.
posted by muddgirl at 6:36 PM on June 11, 2018

A few things: It is either Dr. Lastname or Lastname, PhD. It is never Dr. Lastname, PhD; this is a bit too much belt and suspenders. There is some debate about using the title socially, but honestly, if somebody just defended, call them doctor as much as they want.

The vast majority of PhDs I know don’t regularly call themselves doctor, particularly if they work in an environment where a lot of people have PhDs. It just seems silly. I generally don’t care, but will admit to getting a bit antsy when people call me “mister”.
posted by Comrade_robot at 6:44 PM on June 11, 2018

As a PHD in industry, Dr. My name should not ever be used. My name, PhD is fine. My name is also fine. Hiring managers have told me they won't consider a person that puts Dr. My name.
posted by Kalmya at 6:52 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

From new Zealand, got my PhD in NZ, but have lived in the US ever since (17 years). Never do either unless I am publishing a paper where the norm is to have degrees afterward. Anything else makes you look like a bit of a wanker, imo.
If I had an office with my name on the door, it would say "gaspode last name, PhD"
posted by gaspode at 8:02 PM on June 11, 2018

I see people who use Dr. Whatever as being really obnoxious and one step down from that is people who have PhD attached to their last name like it's glued on. I do web design for therapists and the ones with PhDs or PsyDs have those letters everywhere. In their URL, their practice name, their email address. It's embarssing. I strongly believe the norm here is to leave it off. But if it has to be there, don't do Dr. at the beginning. She'll be mocked.
posted by orsonet at 8:09 PM on June 11, 2018

Jane Doe, PhD
posted by tristeza at 9:09 PM on June 11, 2018

+1 to oppose "Dr. Name" as it's pretentious and makes the profile seem less professional. It reminds me of [US] lawyers who use "Esq." after their name.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 12:51 AM on June 12, 2018

Just a quick 'plus one' for it being more common in UK academia to use Dr Yourname. My perception is the Yourname, PhD is a much more US based usage, as the US based HEI that I have worked for lists faculty on its website that way. I am Dr Chairboy on occasion here, but I use it sparingly, and only when I think that any clout that it gives me will significantly outweigh any lingering whiff of wankerdom. That said, it is on my Driving Licence, and it does make the police think twice when they pull you over. I definitely wouldn't use it on my Linkedin. There it's just listed under 'education'.
posted by Chairboy at 2:36 AM on June 12, 2018

Congratulations to your spouse!

Another vote for “this really depends on local custom”. If you feel that “Your Name, PhD” sounds weird to you personally, you may well be onto something. In Austria, where I’m from, “Dr. Her Name” is clearly the way to go if you want to display your title on LinkedIn or elsewhere; post-nominal letters are pretty much unheard of. It also wouldn’t be considered pretentious at all to add the “Dr.”. Quite the contrary, people who interact with her in a professional capacity might feel embarrassed if they found out later on that she has earned a doctoral degree and they’ve been addressing her without the correct academic title…

In conclusion… ask around?
posted by wachhundfisch at 2:48 AM on June 12, 2018

It's profoundly weird when people don't want us to use our proper titles. I'm Dr. Sockermom or Sockermom, PhD. I guess it must be wonderful to be able to forgo the title because it's "not necessary" or "seems pretentious" but then I won't be taken seriously. Why would I sacrifice my actual credential? How weird. I'm not Mrs. or Ms. Sockermom; I'm Dr. Sockermom. Sorry not sorry if that bothers you. I earned my gender-neutral title and it's appropriate to use, especially in a work context.

In my academic department everyone uses Name, PhD on email signatures so that's what I do as well.
posted by sockermom at 8:45 AM on June 12, 2018 [6 favorites]

This question is specifically asking about LinkedIn, which isn't the same as email or other uses.

Absolutely nobody in my linkedin network (mostly people with biomed PhDs, like me) uses Dr or PhD in their actual linkedin name. It'd be like using it as your Facebook name... weird and out of place.

(In contrast, Name, PhD is the most common usage in emails, business cards, etc. Occasionally Dr. but I've only seen that from older profs, typically tenured. From a younger person it would come off as strange/offputting/pretentious. I do address PhD holders as Dr. Name when being polite, and have gotten the same treatment, but that's different from self-identifying as Dr. Name.)

If you absolutely must use one, go with PhD, but it's far more normal to just use your actual name on LinkedIn. Even the medical doctors I know don't use Dr. on LinkedIn, with maybe one or two exceptions, all older people.
posted by randomnity at 9:39 AM on June 12, 2018

My doctorate is in biochemistry, and I currently work in biotech in the United States. On LinkedIn, it didn't even occur to me to use anything but Firstname Lastname. Then, listing education conveys the fact that I have a doctorate. We have colleagues in Ireland and Scotland who also have doctorates, and I just checked their LI profiles - same as mine.

I'll agree that in the United States, non-medical doctors who insist on using the title Dr in inappropriate are considered pretentious. To me, the distinction between medical and non-medical doctors is that the former are providing a service. Regular PhDs aren't providing services, unless they're in tenure-track professor positions, in which case they're providing the service of education. Sure, I earned my title, but calling me doctor is going to mean what, exactly? Maybe I'm wrong for thinking this way. Personally, I find plenty of pride and acknowledgment for the hard work I put in in ways other than requiring people referring to me by a particular title.
posted by Everydayville at 1:22 PM on June 12, 2018

In my academic department everyone uses Name, PhD on email signatures so that's what I do as well.

But in your LinkedIn profile? There aren't even fields for title or degree, so you'd either have to include 'Dr.' as part of your first name or ', PhD' as part of your last name. It's just off-putting.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:20 PM on June 12, 2018

I just did a quick survey of my LinkedIn network. I have about 160 connections with doctorates; about 14 use either a Dr. or PhD with their names.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:30 PM on June 12, 2018

I work at a healthcare org and on leaflets and brochures the providers are listed as "first last, MD" or "first last, DO" or "First last, CRNP" etc. So even in the medical field the standard seems to be going towards name, credentials. Dr. Name is more colloquial for patients talking to the doc or students in an academic setting talking to a professor.
posted by WeekendJen at 7:51 AM on June 13, 2018