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Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

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Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#51

Post by ghaff »

anonu wrote: post #17

> , I will likely surrender my chance for a PhD. I don't think this is completely valid. I know a handful of people I graduated with both undergrad and grad, who went into industry for a year or two and then went back to study for a PhD. I wouldn't say it's a common path, but it happens.. In your case, you may benefit from a 2 year stint in the workforce IMHO

In practice, I expect most people will, if nothing else, find it hard to give up a likely fairly lucrative job in an on-demand profession to get a PhD. Golden handcuffs and all that.

But, sure, it's possible.

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#52

Post by eanthy »

threeseed wrote: post #8
eanthy wrote: post #3

Only place in industry that requires a PhD is Data Science. How interesting what you do there is depends on the company. In most cases as a Data Scientist you won't be doing much coding. Otherwise if you want to go in any other software development you don't need PhD, because as you said you don't want to be a researcher. That being said its very likely for your 9-5 programming job to be very boring and not what you…

I only know a few hundred Data Scientists and (a) you don't need a PhD and (b) they do quite a bit of coding. But I suppose if you work in a more research capacity that might be flipped. And personally I would be wary of any company that insists on a PhD since it's a clear sign to me that they are clueless. Since great Data Scientists are those with strong EQ and communication skills not those they know the most algo…

No idea where you are but I almost never see DS jobs which don't require PhD at least for proper companies.

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#53

Post by tomp »

I don't recommend doing PhD in "theorem proving" as I don't see a lot of industry demand for it. Machine learning, statistics, optimisation, ... all better choices (if you know you're not going to stay in academia).

Having said that, I'd apply for PhDs in other countries as well. Hopefully some would offer you a place directly, not "1 year of free work that will potentially (a.k.a. "not") lead to a PhD opportunity".

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#54

Post by mcv »

A PhD will probably make your life more "interesting" in the Chinese proverb sense[0].

At least that's the impression I get from a lot of PhDs. I don't have one myself, and I used to regret that, but not anymore. PhD work is hard, thankless, underpaid work that has little to no value in industry. Although it does open up opportunities to even more hard, thankless, underpaid work in academia.

The one exception is Machine Learning. A PhD in ML can apparently get you paid millions in the industry.

But if you already consider 9 months a huge hurdle, consider what a hurdle 4 years will be.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_ti... (It's apparently not based on any actual Chinese proverb or curse.)

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#55

Post by geophile »

"More interesting life". Not for you, from the sound of it. Yes, with a PhD you could do things you wouldn't get the chance to as an MSc. But those are things that you don't seem to enjoy -- reading papers, research. Some PhDs do write software, but more often (I think) they do the research and delegate the writing of any necessary software.

You don't want to do a PhD, you don't want to do the work that a PhD does, so why do it?

An MSc who is excited about his work is going to be far more useful and happy than an unmotivated PhD.

Source: I have a CS PhD, from many years ago. Like you, I preferred creating things. I was fortunate to be able to make the transition to industry. But I also saw contemporaries, with PhDs, who wanted to make that transition, but waited too long and were then unable to.

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#56

Post by SiempreViernes »

jotakami wrote: post #6
Gatsky wrote: post #2

I think there are some people who really want to do research more than anything else. They should do PhDs. People without this compulsion are probably better off doing something else. I was joking with a friend the other day about interview questions which pick out the people most likely to succeed at research. The consensus was that this is the best discriminator: "Do you ever wish that all your friends and family w…

If my answer is “Yes, but only temporarily!” does that still count? For real though, this comment confirms all of my intuition. I’m about to start a PhD at the age of 36, with a spouse and child to support, and I know my bank account will never forgive me for this. But... I can’t not do it.

I hope you have a good supervisor and I wish you good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#58

Post by bane »

threeseed wrote: post #8
eanthy wrote: post #3

Only place in industry that requires a PhD is Data Science. How interesting what you do there is depends on the company. In most cases as a Data Scientist you won't be doing much coding. Otherwise if you want to go in any other software development you don't need PhD, because as you said you don't want to be a researcher. That being said its very likely for your 9-5 programming job to be very boring and not what you…

I only know a few hundred Data Scientists and (a) you don't need a PhD and (b) they do quite a bit of coding. But I suppose if you work in a more research capacity that might be flipped. And personally I would be wary of any company that insists on a PhD since it's a clear sign to me that they are clueless. Since great Data Scientists are those with strong EQ and communication skills not those they know the most algo…

Concur. I know several dozen Data Scientists with and w/o PhDs, at a wide range of skill levels. In general the better DSs I know, the ones who can deliver useful solutions in meaningful timeframes, are the ones who chose not to pursue the PhD, but have attained an MS in some engineering field and have a desire to learn the technical ropes that feed into their field and that their field feeds.

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#59

Post by umutisik »

A lot of good advice here already. Here's something which may be a factor in your thinking. This is what I've observed since I moved to industry post-PhD: A PhD helps one gain scientific maturity simply by giving one full 'make-or-break' ownership of a project. In industry, it is very rare, especially for a junior person, to completely own a difficult and complicated project, in a way that it just won't get done right if they don't do it right. And maybe after the first successful project, you look for a new one, that experience will add to your scientific maturity as well.

Re: Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?

#60

Post by fifnir »

mcv wrote: post #54

A PhD will probably make your life more "interesting" in the Chinese proverb sense[0]. At least that's the impression I get from a lot of PhDs. I don't have one myself, and I used to regret that, but not anymore. PhD work is hard, thankless, underpaid work that has little to no value in industry. Although it does open up opportunities to even more hard, thankless, underpaid work in academia. The one exception is Mach…

> has little to no value in industry.

So what ? It has great value to history and humankind.

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