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On October 27, 2013, Rich Braun wrote: >The diploma that seems to be drying up in recent years is the >Master's. Major universities are steering people directly into PhD >programs, and not many jobs out there target master's degree holders. Masters degrees are also extremely variable, ranging from 1-year diploma mills (even at some well-known universities) to multi-year, near-Ph.D. research. And even within the same school, you can have 5-6 different computer-related masters degrees with similar names but wildly different levels of technical emphasis (hello Carnegie-Mellon). >However the problem with the PhD is it pigeon-holes you into a >specific career path, one which may not be the highest-paying in >future years. Perhaps that's what you have encountered, but in my experience, it varies tremendously from employer to employer. The guy who coded the most innovative manufacturing system in our company has a Ph.D. in cognitive science, a largely unrelated field. On the flip side, I've walked into (and out of) interviews when the first words out of the idiot manager's mouth were, "So, you've been in school all your life. Have you ever done anything?" (I have a Ph.D. + 15 years of industry.) At a good company, "Ph.D." on a candidate's resume implies "smart" and "able to work independently." There's a lot of variability within those descriptors: someone who works well independently might be good OR bad at working on teams, for example. And one does meet the occasional "ivory tower" stereotype who is all ideas and no practicality. But Ph.D's come in all shapes & sizes, just like any other group. -- Dan Barrett dbarrett at blazemonger.com
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