Project-orientation and management logics in science have fundamentally altered research and scientific careers. This article contributes to ongoing research about early career researchers’ self-definition as ‘24-hour scientists’ and deals with their involvement in processes of self-precarisation. It focuses on qualifying strategies and soft-skills training for scholars. These training programs and advice often encompass so-called key competences for scholars, such as time and selfmanagement. I argue that it is time to redefine the criteria for successfully completing a PhD by breaking with management rhetoric.