News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs. Parent comment

Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by xiii1408 on Monday July 23, 2018 @02:50PM (#17594890)
This has been my experience as a CS Ph.D. student at a top US university as well--the pay is way less than industry, but it's enough to have a decent quality of life.

In my department, students make about $40K/year as a base salary, which is not a lot, but enough to get by with. Add a summer internship to this, and your income is not too shabby--I made about $70K this year.

Now, of course, I realize this is half or less of what students would be making in industry. But it's enough that quality of life is pretty decent.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by ryanmercer on Monday July 23, 2018 @03:42PM (#17595349)
>In my department, students make about $40K/year as a base salary, which is not a lot,

Erm. It's the median personal income and more than like 61% of the country's population makes. More than I make after 12 years on the job.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by dragonwriter on Monday July 23, 2018 @03:44PM (#17595367)
> It's the median personal income

But below median for a college graduate, much less one with an undergraduate degree in CS or another high-demand technical field, and way below median (and quite possibly poverty level) for some of the local areas where big-name CS graduate programs are located.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by xiii1408 on Monday July 23, 2018 @05:50PM (#17596322)
I live in a high cost of living area, and starting salaries are usually around $100-140K.

Students in my program usually end up paying 40-60% of the base salary toward rent.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by tnecniv on Monday July 23, 2018 @11:16PM (#17597864)
> In my department, students make about $40K/year as a base salary.

That's incredibly high as a base rate! Most departments I know pay between $28k and $32k. The only people I know at $40k have an NSF fellowship.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why some PhDs are quitting academia for unconventional jobs by xiii1408 on Thursday July 26, 2018 @04:52PM (#17620988)
We make double stipend during the summer, to try to somewhat offset the financial incentive to take a summer internship. I'm including this in the base rate--without, it's probably closer to $32K.
[ Parent | on HN ]