Ask HN: Would you leave a well paid job to start a PhD? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Would you leave a well paid job to start a PhD?

#11

Post by zura » Thu, Oct 09, 2014, 1:14 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #4

This is isomorphic to "Would you leave a well-paid job to start a career as a ballet dancer?" To which my answer depends: a) am I already rich? and b) do I really, really want to become a ballet dancer? If I am not already rich and I do not want to be a ballet dancer like I want to breathe, that would be a really poor decision. Most particularly, if I like watching ballet and would be happy to see more of ballet in t…

Agree, although at some places being a ballet dancer is a formal requirement - e.g. I was thinking to get a PhD some years ago only to be able to work in places like Microsoft Research, but eventually decided that it was not worth it... Also, there were no REMOTE PhD positions :)

Re: Ask HN: Would you leave a well paid job to start a PhD?

#12

Post by seanmcdirmid » Thu, Oct 09, 2014, 1:16 PM UTC

zura wrote: post #11

patio11 wrote: post #4

This is isomorphic to "Would you leave a well-paid job to start a career as a ballet dancer?" To which my answer depends: a) am I already rich? and b) do I really, really want to become a ballet dancer? If I am not already rich and I do not want to be a ballet dancer like I want to breathe, that would be a really poor decision. Most particularly, if I like watching ballet and would be happy to see more of ballet in t…

Agree, although at some places being a ballet dancer is a formal requirement - e.g. I was thinking to get a PhD some years ago only to be able to work in places like Microsoft Research, but eventually decided that it was not worth it... Also, there were no REMOTE PhD positions :)

Not everyone at MSR have phd's, some of our best people don't.

Re: Ask HN: Would you leave a well paid job to start a PhD?

#13

Post by zura » Thu, Oct 09, 2014, 1:41 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #12

zura wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, although at some places being a ballet dancer is a formal requirement - e.g. I was thinking to get a PhD some years ago only to be able to work in places like Microsoft Research, but eventually decided that it was not worth it... Also, there were no REMOTE PhD positions :)

Not everyone at MSR have phd's, some of our best people don't.

I see you're based in Beijing. I even remember it was explicitly mentioned on MSR jobs page that PhD was not required for Asian sites (India and probably China).

Re: Ask HN: Would you leave a well paid job to start a PhD?

#14

Post by seanmcdirmid » Thu, Oct 09, 2014, 2:18 PM UTC

zura wrote: post #13

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone at MSR have phd's, some of our best people don't.

I see you're based in Beijing. I even remember it was explicitly mentioned on MSR jobs page that PhD was not required for Asian sites (India and probably China).

Also in Redmond. Many are RSDEs, but there are also some researchers (principals even).

Re: Ask HN: Would you leave a well paid job to start a PhD?

#15

Post by jaoued » Thu, Oct 09, 2014, 2:32 PM UTC

I did exactly this few years ago. I had a well paid job in a well established company to do a PhD in something I was passionate about with someone whom I admired and still do in the city of dreaming spires. Spent 4 years doing great stuff, published 8 papers including Phil Mag A. and Royal Society but living on a small grant. Best years of my life: I was young, single and poor but I never regretted it.