Doubt about studying PhD in Computer Science | Hacker News Reader

Doubt about studying PhD in Computer Science

18 pointsabachetan10 comments

I have already read this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=452746. My situation is different. I am 35, have 7 years experience working for various corp clients as a software consultant in USA, mostly involved in Java/J2EE,Oracle based enterprise projects. I already have a MS degree, though my GPA is low( 3.0/4.0) from a not so great university in USA( not a top-50 ranked university).But I am not happy with type of work that I am doing. I am really interested to go for PhD, but do not know if after 5 or 6 years , by the time I finish,if I would get any good job offers as a post doc or as a research scientist in any of the premier labs or in academic institutes.Should I keep working in corp jobs or should I go for PhD.

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If your problem is that you're not happy with your work, what you need to do is find better work. There are innumerable ways of finding interesting work to do in computer science. A PhD is just one way of doing this but keep in mind that there are many other easier ways. If just applying for other jobs doesn't work, you can hack on open source projects, build your own lifestyle business, or get involved with startups.

I dunno about academia, but I'm pretty sure the top-tier labs will hire you after a PhD if your research is good enough (i.e., enough papers in top-tier conferences) regardless of your age. For instance, Sriram Rajamani, who leads the program analysis group at MSR India, spent several years writing code before he started his PhD.

I'd like to reiterate that a PhD is not for the faint of heart. It's hard work, difficult work and you really need to be motivated to do top-quality work for 60 hours a week at near-sustenance-level pay while competing with the smartest people in the world to publish your research.

I am about to defend my Ph.D. thesis in a few weeks. I'm in the area of comp/elec engineering, VLSI chip design stuff. Here is my advice from my personal experience. I typically tell people to not go for a Ph.D. unless they are convinced that it is required in whatever career path they want (for example, becoming a tenured professor, or specific type of research position in industry).

From the way you phrased your question, it depend on what you deem as a "good job offer". In terms of salary, the typical wage difference between Ph.D. and MS is not that big (in my field). You are also not earning for the time in which you pursue the Ph.D. (5 years maybe). As an example, most of my friends that did their M.S. with me went straight into industry. They are all in some form of technical lead/managerial role (higher pay) and had been earning a good salary the whole time. Also being a post-doc is not something you would want to aim for. It's more of a limbo position with poor pay. If you are talking about "interesting" work, then Ph.D. can open doors but it depends on your specialized area.

That being said, completing a Ph.D. will make you an expert in your field. If that field has strong industry ties, you will likely come out with many contacts through networking at conferences and events, possibly collaborating with industry members, possible research internships, etc. This will lead to job opportunities.

And as others have said, Ph.D.s are not for the faint of heart. For me, Ph.D. was similar to M.S., but with a longer term, slightly more risky project. So think about how you liked your M.S. experience. Your overall experience will also depend highly on your supervisor's personality, and how disciplined and motivated you are. I tend to think that I am a bit on the un-disciplined side, but I am very fortunate to have an extremely good mentor/supervisor. :)

If you want to chat further, feel free to post here or send me an email. :)

Like you, I went back to do a PhD after too many years in corporate IT. Based on my experiences, I was motivated to research MBSE as applied to business systems. I'm on the home run, ABD! Here's what I wish I knew before I started:

You don't need a high GPA, you need tenacity and perseverance and faith in your goals. And at the same time being able to take criticism, feedback and rejection.

You are not learning as for a BE or ME, you are creating new knowledge and sharing it with other academics with similar interests.

Postdoc and researcher positions are not well paid, very competitive and you need to have had some good papers published to even get a look in.

You must love reading, thinking and writing, re-writing and re-re-writing. This is where I still struggle. It's one thing to get things researched and implemented but another to write about it in a way that others will want to read. If your papers don't get cited, then it is hard to gain traction for researcher positions.

It helps to be a confident speaker at conferences, faculty seminars, etc. Thinking of it as an opportunity to market yourself to prospective future employers (as in universities and research labs).

My observation is that you either need to be in a good relationship or be willing to forego having one for 5+ years. Dating whilst doing a PhD is a huge distraction and could result in missing out on one or the other.

Finally, I think you need a Plan B. What you'll do if you don't like it, or like it but can't get a postdoc position.

I agree with microarchitect and gcb. You are focusing more on the means than the ends. What would you enjoy doing? What will it take for you to get into a position doing that? Just speculating, I would imagine that any barrier (if any exists) to you being qualified for your desired position if based on skill level, not academic credentials. Of course, if you are looking to do literally cutting-edge research involving highly advanced algorithms, a PhD might be the way to go. However, first you have to know what you really want to do. Like the earlier posters said, you also need to know people who know when valuable positions open up. Most of these good jobs never get posted because the hiring manager will first ask his/her contacts for leads on candidates, since relationships have credibility at risk and lead to higher quality leads. You need to be the person that gets the e-mail saying, "Hi, my company XYZ Corp. is looking for an excellent developer to do... Know any awesome devs who can do it?"

Why are you interested in doing a PhD? Do you know that you like research?

PhD programs are very different from undergraduate (and most masters) programs. I wouldn't bother with one unless you are sure that you want an academic position, or a job in an industry research lab.

That said, research can be very fun! Just be sure that you know what you are getting yourself into. If you decide to apply, you may be interested in a series of blog posts I'm starting on the grad school application process:

http://blog.ethanjfast.com/2011/03/state-your-purpose/

Excellent recent essay on this topic:

http://jonathanherzog.com/node/139

If you want a better job. Just create your own Job (startup)

Easier said than done.

Usually people lack good jobs because they can't be politic enough.

On academia it's 10x worse. Do not fool yourself.

From what I've seen, people with solid research track record can do well at entry level. But as you say, to become the director of some research group, you will need sales, marketing, negotiation and politics skills.

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