Re:Anxiety and Frustration at NeurIPS'24
by SoftTalker on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @04:55PM
(#42505218)
There's no reason to do a Ph.D. if you don't aspire to an academic position. If you want to be a practitioner, do a Masters.
Re:Anxiety and Frustration at NeurIPS'24
by currymj on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @05:59PM
(#42505564)
this is true overall, but for the last decade there have been many research-oriented positions at large tech companies for which the PhD degree is a formal job requirement. others don’t make it a formal requirement, but demand research experience which can be gotten most easily as a PhD student.
It's really not that simple. But it's fair to say that while a masters can often be a very straightforward training to get you ready for a particular job, you really shouldn't go into a PhD program without a good idea of a) why and b) where you are aiming for afterward. For STEM I would usually add c) someone else is paying for it
the PhD is not like a master's program, it's an apprenticeship relationship where you essentially work for a senior professor, and your work directly financially benefits the department as well.
so there is a deal here, but if one end of it is collapsing, the students in some departments might very well feel betrayed -- not by society but by their advisors and programs.