(no subject)

[vshnayder]

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=679
and the one after it. What have I gotten myself into?

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I feel like, in CS, engineering or a hard science, you're not quite as limited as say, someone with a PhD in Philosphy (whose options are professorship or McDonalds). But maybe I'm wrong, not being one of the grad school types.

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

In CS, it's really a toss up. It all depends on what you want to do. If you want to go into software engineering, grad school is makes you overqualified, and people will be hesitant to hire (two notable exceptions are MS and Google, but then again, they play by different rules). If you want to go into research (industrial or academic) you need at least a masters. I think a lot of other engineering disciplines are like that. If you're not sure what you want to do, and you decide that Grad School is the best way to put it off, you can come back to find out it wasn't such a good idea.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I've been flat out told to never get a PhD in engineering if you want to work in industry again. A master's is a really good idea, and an MBA might not even hurt you too much, but every engineer I talked to said flat out that if you had a PhD on your resume, you'd never get hired.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

But that was mechanical/electrical. I get the feeling CS is a little different. But no, I don't think being a generic code monkey is really the place you're heading for.

[elliewhit.livejournal.com]

I thought you wanted to be a prof? What are you interested in doing - I know there's tons of room in atmo research for a good CS PhD.
I sort of have the opposite problem - I'm worried that I'll have to move on to the PhD just to get the sort of job I want.

[shnayder.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I want to be a prof.. but the comment above should have included a ':-) ' I wasn't being really serious. After I pass my quals and get through this semester, I'll probably have to actually think a bit more about what to do. But I'm not especially worried about being unable to find a job because of having a PhD. It's quite common in CS I think.