Tech IndustrySep 19, 2019
Newsrp007

Necessity for PhD in Applied/Data Scientist roles at FAANG ?

I am finished with my masters in theoretical computer science. I have recently developed an interested in the world of data science and is something I want to pursue professionally. I was planning to do a masters in data science/AI but have been facing this dilemma of PhD -vs- MSc. Researching, constantly working to publish papers is not something that interests me but more interested in deploying models into production. Also, have plans of doing an MBA ( 4-5 years later) to shift towards high-paying roles as a manager or private consultants. So how restrictive would my career in data science be ( in FAANG companies) with the lack of a PhD? Are the additional 4 years of PhD valued more or 4 years of Work Experience?

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Google Fartman Sep 19, 2019

Google says you need a PhD and they hire people with Masters. They usually suck though.

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vxFX54 Sep 20, 2019

I have been observing that peeps with PhDs get the applied scientist or machine learning engineer roles while the MSc grads are stuck with menial data analyst roles, although all of em sharing the same "data scientist" name. Does not having a PhD restrict you from shifting from data analyst roles to ml roles ( even though you possess much more work experience than recent PhD grads )?

Google Fartman Sep 20, 2019

Not at all. At Google you'd start at L3 depending on interview performance instead of L4 and you can promote.

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han5grüber Sep 20, 2019

Skip the MS and PhD, work 2 years and go to an M7. There's no point in dicking around in tangential stuff if you know the end goal already