HACKER Q&A
📣 agnos

What is the value of a graduate degree (MS/PhD) in the tech industry?


Background: I am a software developer who has been working in the industry for around 5 years with a BS in CS. While I've been fortunate enough to have had good learning experiences and technical growth in my roles, I have been thinking about my career trajectory for the next 5-10 years.

I don't think I want to climb the career ladder in the same dimension that I have been. Learning new things/perspectives has been the most valuable part of every job I've had, and I'd like the freedom to pursue a deeper understanding of a subject for its own sake. For this reason, I have been considering the path of academia. But industry has its merits, and I don't want to limit my options to a pure research/teaching career. I understand that pursuing a PhD degree can be arduous and rigorous (not to mention time-consuming), so I want to make sure it's the right decision for me.

(I'm asking mostly about doctoral degrees here, because I've heard from various sources that a MS is near useless for career growth in the industry, but may be useful as a stepping stone to a PhD/path in academia. Other perspectives on the value of MS are also welcome.)

What kind of impact will a PhD have on a software career in industry? For those who have pursued academia and industry, what has been your experience?

  👤 quantified Accepted Answer ✓
Depends on what the degree is in. I can’t say that a run-of-the-mill master’s provides an advantage over 5 years of real work experience, unless it’s just been VBA. PhD’s are often but not always (perceived as, anyway) thinkers instead of doers. But in areas with high cognitive demands and worthwhile applications (in crypto, distributed systems, compilers, etc) the signalling effect might be really strong. However, if you had to stop earning to achieve that, your career earnings might not totally balance out. (An extra 100k a year from MAGAA or the right startup certainly could.)
👤 ThrowawayR2
A PhD certifies that you are able to do research independently, at least in theory. Unless you are aiming for one of the very few CS research positions in industry or for one of the jobs developing a product that require very specific cutting edge knowledge that your research happens to have been in, a PhD is likely to be of very little use.
👤 jleyank
a PhD in Chemistry or Physics is of value to the niche Chemistry/Physics markets. Related PhD's are equivalent. Would think that a PhD in CS is seen as somebody on the academic track, and in ancient times an MS was worth 3-5 years experience for that initial position. A broader academic training, as it were. No clue whether it's still seen that way or whether "what, actually, have you done - show it to me" rules the roost.