Re:A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1M, Even at a Nonp...
by endymi0n on Friday April 20, 2018 @04:30AM
(#16883100)
To be honest, the academic field is about the only field in which it perfectly makes sense to finish a degree, I mean, what else can you boast with if you have none?
The other three reasons are visa (proof of "ability"), wanting to work in government (if you really, really want that) or early-stage startups that need Ivy-League credentials for their investors, because they don't have anything else to offer.
Other than that, as a software engineer in the private industry, nobody will care about any of your degrees.
Re:A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1M, Even at a Nonp...
by mygo on Friday April 20, 2018 @12:24PM
(#16886104)
> I mean, what else can you boast with if you have none?
Your actual contributions to the field.
of which, comp sci is one of the few fields where you don’t need an academic degree to have significant contributions to the field
But I read the other day about a biologist who just recently made a major contribution to graph theory, as an amateur mathematician?
He can come speak at all of my cookouts.
Re:A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1M, Even at a Nonp...
by prance on Friday April 20, 2018 @06:56AM
(#16883749)
Well, I care, to some extent. Like many other things, it can be used as a filter. At the least, lacking other demonstrable evidence (such as open source or industry experience which can be confirmed by referrals), a finished master or PhD shows that someone is able to finish a non-trivial project.
I've almost done my masters - I finished all the courses, but did not submit my graduate thesis in time - so I have what we call "absolutorium", i.e. finished the program without pursuing a degree. The other day, a friend from my alma mater wanted me to come and do a semester of programming classes as an "industry consultant". It was all arranged properly and I was getting ready with my lectures when, few weeks before I was supposed to give the first one, I became a political point in inter-faculty negotiations. People from one of the other faculties argued it's disrespectful to allow someone with mere BSc to teach students. Ultimately, my faculty had to let me go.
So yeah, that's the kind of bullshit that having an academic title may help you navigate. Whether or not it is worth the effort to get one is arguable, though.