341–350 of 485 posts
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As someone who hires, my opinion is the exact opposite. A masters is good, but a PhD is at least a yellow flag.
> PhD is at least a yellow flag. Why?
Yellow flag not red because this is a general observation with plenty of exceptions, of course.
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There are many research jobs at Microsoft, Google, etc., that require a STEM PhD.
Can't say for certain if they will be around 4-5 years down the line.
From the discussion here, it seems that HN turns out to be a very money-centric place. Somewhat surprising. It doesn’t even seem to occur to people that one might pursue a doctoral degree because one is interested in the subject and wants to do research . It’s always talked about as if getting a PhD is just another rung in a long ladder towards… earning a lot of money? Not only that — it’s apparently such an obvious…
Further, there was an "unacknowledged (though implicitly present) assumption" that faculty were in the business of bringing in grant money, and he who didn't wouldn't last long.
Then in the last few years we came to learn that much of the "academics" that gets published today is completely bogus. What subject are those "researchers" interested in?
I got a PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1994. I was a researcher for a few years and converted to software in 2000. The degree turned out to have a lot of transferable skills - especially in researching and solving problems. Just 25 years later I am a Principal Engineer in the Oz Telco industry writing Rust! I don't regret the degree for a moment - although when I went through the degree was free, even at a top tier Aust…
From the discussion here, it seems that HN turns out to be a very money-centric place. Somewhat surprising. It doesn’t even seem to occur to people that one might pursue a doctoral degree because one is interested in the subject and wants to do research . It’s always talked about as if getting a PhD is just another rung in a long ladder towards… earning a lot of money? Not only that — it’s apparently such an obvious…
> From the discussion here, it seems that HN turns out to be a very money centric place. It’s not HN. It’s the fact that doing PHD is only a reasonable choice if you either want to get into academia long term or you come from wealth. (Historically science and research was a rich people thing, and only became accessible once student loans were more accessible) I genuinely considered doing PhD after my Masters degree.…
From the discussion here, it seems that HN turns out to be a very money-centric place. Somewhat surprising. It doesn’t even seem to occur to people that one might pursue a doctoral degree because one is interested in the subject and wants to do research . It’s always talked about as if getting a PhD is just another rung in a long ladder towards… earning a lot of money? Not only that — it’s apparently such an obvious…
If you're able to ignore that fantastic, great for you and I hope you're happy, but even fully funded positions have just enough money to cover the minimum length of a PhD. To get the most from it chances are you will either end up with minor debt or wipe out some savings. Unfortunately such is life.
IMO the goal of the PhD shouldn't be to think of a city job as a high frequency trader at the end, but that's my worldview that why spend X years studying in a field of you don't intend to follow it...
Chances are if you say that during an interview for a place, unless it's in studying high frequency trading you won't get a call back.
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Musk used his "hoard" to revolutionize the car industry, then the rocket industry, then the communications industry, etc. Did you know he gave away free Starlink to victims of hurricane Helena and the LA fires? When FEMA did nothing? He's also going to rescue the astronauts abandoned in space. My gawd, Elon is pure eeevil!!
How did FEMA do nothing?
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> Anyone who doesn't suffer any real consequences. Having parents with a lot of money makes it not matter all that much. You're not going to starve in America if you lose all your money. Besides, Elon's dad at one point invested in Elon's company. Elon was already a success in business by then. From $20,000, he became the richest man in the world. All by luck! Pretty amazing! Me, I could scrape up $20,000. Could I tu…
> You're not going to starve in America if you lose all your money. Walk down my street with me and I’ll show you. > Nor am I as smart as he is. Are you kidding?
Lots of people seem to think that Musk has blundered his way from success to success. Nobody blunders $20,000 into richest man in the world.
8 years on, I'm still in the same map company along with 3-4 others who have joined after or mid-way their PhDs (and some more who didn't bother) and we do routing for hundreds of customers and basically have everything a PhD group has, including Seasonal Seminars on Routing Algorithms.
Finite element Method is not as exciting as AI (I used to think at some point that it would) and Port Hamiltonian Systems is something not a lot of people talk about, except maybe Dr. Volker Mehrmann and his group :)
Academia is not for the faint hearted and a PhD isn't just about research anymore. It's just a low paying job now, sadly. I still say things like "if I ever happen to go back to academia", as if I did a lot there. But I am an academic at heart, just that pursuing a PhD didn't certify it any better or seem to provide more freedom for exploring my passion for studies or a particular topic.
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Sure - it's just a hobby that pays money. That and the library access, and the fact that you don't have to fit it in around a job, obviously. Kinda goes without saying. And you get a supervisor who might point you in the right direction and keep you on track - but I'm sure you barely need that! Of course the equipment access and technician support goes without saying. Not like anyone else is going to be letting you u…
> I can't imagine anyone would be drawn to the 50% female working environment, with hundreds of smart, beautiful single women aged 18-22. Who gives a shit about that? Barely even a benefit really. I recall that hitting on undergraduates as an early 20-something graduate student was considered a pretty serious no-no, and barring some tenured professors that feel they're above the rules, it certainly seemed like conseq…
If you're a 24 year old grad student and they're a 22 year old undergraduate in a different department? No big age gap, no power over them like grading their work, no problem.
And as you get towards 27 obviously you won't want to date 18 year olds - but even if the grad students in your department are mostly male and you don't want to create an awkward environment for the female minority, there are grad students in plenty of other departments too.
Is meeting your future wife in grad school super-professional? IDK, maybe not? But it's relatively a lot more professional than trying the same thing at a sausagefest Silicon Valley tech company.