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Comment by rubicon33 | Hacker News Reader

> I'm afraid I won't be able to find interesting work with just a MSc, and I'm really afraid of getting a boring software engineering gig.

This is probably true. Most jobs you'll get with a BS+Msc are going to be app development. Web, mobile, server... pick your flavor. You'll largely be using tools developed by other people, to build applications.

The really interesting jobs are absolutely held by Phds. But that's not to say that having a Phd guarantees you'll get one of those jobs.

I think if you have the option to get a Phd, hunker down, and do it. The industry is headed for a correction in salaries soon. Way too easy of work is being done for 100k+ salaries. When that correction happens, you're going to be happy that you have a Phd and are doing work in a much more challenging field that warrants the pay.

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> The really interesting jobs are absolutely held by Phds.

That wholly depends on your definition of interesting.

I don't have a PhD.

I've written software that taught literacy to kids, helped people pay their bills online (back in 1999, when this was novel), written full ML systems (15 years ago, before the advent of open source ml packages), co-founded a YC company, and now I'm helping people rediscover the images of their lives (see my profile if you're interested!)

To be sure, I'd love to go back to school. There's so much I know I don't know, and would be wonderful to discover.

Just realize you can work on interesting stuff if you look for it, are willing to stretch your skills continuously, and change jobs every handful of years.

> That wholly depends on your definition of interesting.

Of course it does... I'm just making an assumption (possibly wrong), that if you're the type who's in an MS program, wondering if you'll be bored without a PHD, then yes, most industry jobs will bore you. After all, why are you in an MS program seriously considering a PHD. There's gotta be an intellectual curiosity there beyond just moving data around.

At the end of the day, 90% of industry app development is CRUD (Create, Replace, Update, Delete) work on data. The really interesting problems (from an intellectual perspective) are either in research positions, or, at the elite positions within company pet projects like Google Brain, for example.

None of it qualify as interesting to peopple interested by phds.

Exactly my point, which seems to be eluding many others.

People who are interested in a PHD, aren't interested (most likely) in your CRUD / another run of the mill app.

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