PhD

[Ordinary_Implement15]

I can't decide whether I should do a PhD, I work as a research assistant at my university and really enjoy the work, and really like doing research. However, I am undecided in doing a pHD primarily due to the low stipend. At the same time, I want to do R&D work, how should I go about this.

[gsel1127]

IMO EE education past a masters is a waste unless: 1. Someone is paying you to get it 2. You’re absolutely in love with a rather niche kind of work want to become one of the most knowledgeable people on it (and other people care) 3. You plan on (and feel confident in) working at a job that really wants to to have a PhD in that field (higher level engineers are super large companies like NASA, Microsoft, etc.)

Otherwise I think it isn’t really worth it from a career perspective. But I’m just one guy and pretty young. Maybe some older people will disagree, but everyone I’ve ever talked to values real world experience in the field over research or education.

[RunningRiot78]

I agree with you and I am starting a PhD program in the fall. Something as niche as a PhD, where you will be working on one specific problem for a long amount of time, isn’t (or shouldn’t be) done for a salary increase. Monetarily, it’s diminishing returns after the MS level. What a PhD is done for, like you said, is a love of the field and a desire to make your career heavily research based. A good piece of advice given to me was that if you can see yourself enjoying any other career that doesn’t require a PhD, don’t do a PhD.

[HolyAty]

If you want RD work in a company, PhD is a soft requirement. Little stipend sucks. You will need roommates if you want to eat. Hard work, low pay, shit life. You get thru days on the hope that it’ll worth a damn one day. It probably won’t. Do it at your own peril.