Re:Should I Pursue a PhD?
by brudgers on Saturday November 09, 2019 @09:18AM
(#21491665)
Your options are not binary. You could become a teacher. Or a bartender. You could move to Santa Cruz, work the night shift at Walmart, and go surfing every afternoon.
Sure people will tell you should do the one. Or tell you to do the other. Enough of that and you might think that shanting them both is a moral failing. There are important problems in AI, but there's much recognizing hotdogs and putting lightbulbs of maximum profit at the top of the search results.
You could get an MFA with a focus on computational art. Or take up oil painting. Or write a novel. Or a play. Or be a stay at home parent. There are lots of worthwhile things to do in the world. Some are stations on the STEM train. Some are not.
The internet can give you permission for any and all of them. Because you don't need permission. Maybe a rain jacket though. To keep off all the should that people will should on you. It will even keep off some of the should we should on ourselves.
What now? is what an existential crisis looks like. An inflection point. Inflection points are good. They allow us to climb away from local minima. Your future isn't AI. Your future is your life. Working in AI is one (possibly very good) path along which your life might run for a while. Same for a PhD. But "PhD and worked in AI" doesn't make for much of a tombstone. They are potential features. Not a product.
Sure people will tell you should do the one. Or tell you to do the other. Enough of that and you might think that shanting them both is a moral failing. There are important problems in AI, but there's much recognizing hotdogs and putting lightbulbs of maximum profit at the top of the search results.
You could get an MFA with a focus on computational art. Or take up oil painting. Or write a novel. Or a play. Or be a stay at home parent. There are lots of worthwhile things to do in the world. Some are stations on the STEM train. Some are not.
The internet can give you permission for any and all of them. Because you don't need permission. Maybe a rain jacket though. To keep off all the should that people will should on you. It will even keep off some of the should we should on ourselves.
What now? is what an existential crisis looks like. An inflection point. Inflection points are good. They allow us to climb away from local minima. Your future isn't AI. Your future is your life. Working in AI is one (possibly very good) path along which your life might run for a while. Same for a PhD. But "PhD and worked in AI" doesn't make for much of a tombstone. They are potential features. Not a product.
Good luck.