I'm a MechE so this is probably different compared to software. A masters is far better in terms of ROI compared to PhD. I seriously contemplated to complete my PhD after my masters but an additional ~4 years of school was not worth it financially. Your wage is not much different (though the type of work and responsibility might be different) and sometimes masters + 4-5 years actually make more than a PhD grad. Also, you make a full wage 4-5 year earlier. That meant a lot for me in terms of starting my own family and such.
Consider applying for grad school
31–40 of 165 posts
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#32I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not majoring in CS for the right reason [eg, never played with computers as a kid]. If computers were your passion you would have got a BS in it.
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#33If anyone wants a PhD by studying how to make software engineers more productive, my website is in my profile.
To increase productivity of engineers include the following in all employment contracts:
"All engineers will become as rich as the founders and investors if this company succeeds."
Instant productivity increase.
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#34One point jumped out at me, which I haven't seen anyone respond to:
> We are concerned about untrained amateurs going directly into trying to solve very difficult global problems. They can then cause harm overall, by lowering the average quality of analysis or launching ill-considered projects due to a lack of experience or understanding. A PhD reduces the risk you’ll accidentally do this.
This point is operating off of a different fundamental paradigm than the comments here that are talking about opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is looking at personal benefit, while the above is looking at the effectiveness at solving hard, large-scale problems.
Obviously, money is important, but for many (often those who are fortunate enough to have reached a certain income level), it isn't the only thing or even the primary thing.
I don't have much insight into how true the point actually is, but I found it to be interesting.
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#35If anyone wants a PhD by studying how to make software engineers more productive, my website is in my profile.
To increase productivity of engineers include the following in all employment contracts: "All engineers will become as rich as the founders and investors if this company succeeds." Instant productivity increase.
Let’s run an empirical study to measure how much it improves.
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#36I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not ma…
Not everyone finds their passion before or during undergrad.
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
indeed. a few folks in the FIRE (financial independence / retire early) space talk about being able to save enough money to be retired or semi-retired from 7-8 years of full-time work (this doesn't require FAANG scale salaries, just a combination of working somewhere that pays pretty well, not spending much money, building up investments, and luck to avoid getting clobbered with huge medical expenses. and the luck to…
Interesting, where does one learn more about that?
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Re: Consider applying for grad school
#38I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not ma…
My experience is the opposite of yours. Oh look, we cancel out. Hurray for anecdotes and biases!
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#39I know this isn't popular. But I will say it - since I know it goes unspoken in the industry. When I see a CS MS degree I assume the person is terrible. I am always proved correct. I can count on one hand resumes of people that gets a CS BS degree THEN a MS degree in CS [15 years of looking at resumes]. In the US, if you get a BS in CS you usually take off doing cool stuff. CS Master degrees are full of people not ma…
This is discouraging. As someone with a BS in something other than CS I don't feel that I get the benefit of the doubt during interviews. My CS fundamentals are weak because I never learned them and they very rarely come up in building things and I have been thinking of going back for a CS Masters
Re: Consider applying for grad school
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, but there are outcomes beside salary aren't there?
Pedantically: yes, but almost all of them have salary as a prerequisite. Practically: no, not really.
My PhD and the research I do now based on it give me a huge amount of personal satisfaction and are a big part of my quality of life. I'm comparing the work I did before my PhD (because I worked after my degree before a PhD) and seeing what my friends think about work compared to me.
Yeah if you're looking for more money, maybe don't do a PhD. If you're looking for the time and space to find satisfaction by working on a unique problem, then it's hard to find something that gives you that in our industry to the same degree.