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anongradstudenton I own you, and you're easily replaceable.

Another vote for "it depends on who you work for". I just got that a speech that's basically equivalent to that letter from my (CS) adviser. I think it was supposed to be motivational, but the only thing it's motivated me to do is send out resumes and commit to quitting grad school.

Edited, to add that I was already working 80 hours a week before the speech. I'm not even sure how I could possibly work more if I stayed.

anongradstudenton The Secret Lives of Professors (What Being a Professor is Really Like)

A PhD programme is ideally an opportunity to work on whatever you want, for years, in the company of smart people who are also interested in the same subject. You can use this time to try out different ideas and see if any of them take off. Having that shot is valuable in itself, even if you don't "succeed" with a research position afterwards.

This was my attitude going into the program. I'll get to spend five years working on fun problems! Even if I don't land a research job at the end of it, at least I'll have had five years of fun. But when I look at how bitter the people who are graduating now are when they don't get research jobs, I'm not sure that I'll have the same attitude towards things when I finish.

Yes, sometimes new ideas, connections, and skills come out of a PhD. Don't those things come out of working in industry, too?

You may end up teaching too much, you may end up working on projects you don't like

Yes. This. I feel like I had more freedom at my old industry position than I do in my PhD program.

anongradstudenton The Secret Lives of Professors (What Being a Professor is Really Like)

I'm not that young. I spent a couple years picking up an MS and five years working before starting the PhD. Five years still seems like a long time to me. It's nearly 10% of my remaining life expectancy!

Sure, a PhD will open some doors. So will five years in industry: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1373334

anongradstudenton The Secret Lives of Professors (What Being a Professor is Really Like)

Do you think there's a point to getting a PhD at all? I've been debating dropping out of my PhD program (after one year), mostly for personal reasons, but partially because most grads from my (top N) program end up not being able to land a research or academic position after graduation. If I end up like 95% of the graduates from my program, will it have been a waste of time?

Is there any value in a PhD if you do your own startup, become a dev at a huge company like Google, or become a dev at a small company like Yelp? And if so, what does it get you over having five years of experience? I don't mean in monetary terms -- a PhD is obviously a net negative monetarily; what I'm looking for is the chance to make a living working on 'interesting' problems.