Ask HN: Senior FAANG engineer, going back to school for PhD. Is it a bad idea?

I left Microsoft Research and started a PhD at age 38. I have had a lot of fun and gone a completely different direction than if I had stayed. Certainly I'll never recover those earning years. From an economic perspective it is a ludicrous thing to do. You may recover the direct costs, but the opportunity cost are just gone. But if you need to be on a different path there are worse ways to do it

Why would you want a PhD other than for the silly title? Just stick to your FAGMAN job.

My instinctual advice is don't do it - the grass is always greener. Most PHDs are never read or cited by anyone and your hard work will collect dust.

My more thoughtful advice is from something Bryan Cranston said. Basically, he said trying to be an actor is ludicrous. You have a high chance of making no money and never getting a break. Because of that, you should only become an actor if, like him, you can't bear to do anything else.

I don't think there is a clear-cut answer, but rather some pros and cons, which you're already weighing. I'll just pass on some helpful advice that I got, and some of the things I learned while doing a Ph.D.

- A Ph.D. opens up two things: (1) ability to do research, and (2) ability to teach at a university. A Ph.D. makes more sense if you really want one or both of those things. If you're already involved in research at your company, and want to go into the same research area, what a Ph.D. offers is the ability to continue doing research in an academic context. There are a lot of benefits to working at a university (the profs I know really appreciate academic freedom), but I also hear persistent complaints about funding and how difficult it can be to find.

- Choice of advisor matters a lot. A great advisor is a very influential mentor, who will help you grow intellectually in very many ways, and help you make connections to other researchers. A bad advisor can be really destructive. You need to put a lot of effort into evaluating your top several possible advisors. Which of them do you like? What are their former students doing now? (All of their students, not just the most successful.) What are their research groups like? What can you learn about the advisor from their students? If you were as successful as their median student, would you be happy?

- Some departments have more cooperation, some are more competitive. One of my friends ended up in a department that was ridiculously competitive, to the point of students excluding and undermining each other when studying for qualifying exams. She didn't like it and left after getting a master's degree.

>I joined a really cool team

Don't underestimate the satisfaction that can come working as part of a great team. There are no guarantees that you'll be able to recreate that on demand at a later point, or that the research group you end up joining will be as good (though who knows? it could be better).

Also, I'm sure you've looked into this, but is there a possibility of doing formal research work at your company (taking classes towards a Ph.D., finding an advisor at a university to oversee the academic side of your research, etc.)?

I have a PhD in the social sciences, now work as a data scientist/PI in industry.

1. I agree with hideo, though they have sort of a maximally negative take here. This perspective is good to entertain however, as there will be weeks/months where it sucks as bad as they say. Other times, it will be fine/much better. Of course you will need to be prepared for the worst to make it.

2. Much of the PhD angst for me derived from financial stress. This won't be an issue for you, which is an interesting comparative advantage.

3. Many programs allow you to bail after two years with a masters. There is no shame in this, and sometimes I wonder why I didn't do this (despite the PhD being an unmitigated, if unbelievably stressful, success for me personally).

4. Speaking for myself, a doctorate has opened doors I never imagined would be possible for me. It also almost drove me insane multiple times. Get a group meeting through the student health center (I did a men's group, and it got me over the line).

5. I agree with vanusa that you basically don't want to leave anything on the table in life. If this is in your belly, it is. If having the biggest 401k possible is in your belly, I'd avoid it or get a masters. As others have said, FAANG isn't going anywhere (despite rebrands and name changes), and from my experience you will command a higher salary if/when you want to go back.