Currently in Master's program at Stanford. Should I continue with Phd or go to google as a SWE? I have phd and swe offers.
You can do heavy leetcoding at any time and land a job at Google. don’t be fool to compare an opportunity of doing PhD vs working for Google given you really want to do PhD
There are 100k of SWE at Google, there are only less than 100 PhD at Stanford (I make up the number but you get the idea). After 5 years of PhD you can start at L4, while you’ll start at L3 if you join now. Not a big short term loss, while it’s a big long term gain.
Not a long term gain unless u go into research. PhD is useless for SWE.
@Citadel: If you are referring to code monkey then I agree. If SWE do not need to do research then all the technologies just come out of thin air?
I dropped out of a phd in a top 10 not top 4 school in CS and I am happy about it. If you always want to do research either in industry or in academia get a phd. If you are unsure, and think you are one of those folks who can be successful in most fields work at Google/Fb. I was in the second category I liked research, but not enough to just work on researchy problems my carrer. It is easier to rise up and you have more flexiblity as being a software engineer compared to researcher
It depends what you like to do more. Doesn't hurt to do the PhD from a top school if you are young enough.
It depends if you want to go to academia (to teach and/or research) or go to the industry (building product and making more money).
What is your end game? Do you just want the $$$ and hope a PHD will get you higher TC?
SWE will always be there Do the PhD and challenge yourself
If you really wanted to do a PhD, you wouldn’t be asking this question. Take the job offer and have some fun.
My biggest regret is wasting time in grad school. The opportunity cost is too high unless academia is your passion in life. Say you spend 5 years in phd (could be longer), that's at least half a million dollar in opportunity cost if not more.
It's far easier to hit $1M+ TC as a PhD quant (finance) than a SWE/RS at FANG. Good luck climbing to eng director.
Very very few quants reach that level. The odds of reaching that are similar to being a eng director, not numbers wise but talent wise. As a quant you are competing with against quants who also have a Phd from mit so the degree of hardeness is same as being an eng director.
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PhD — that’s a rare opportunity especially at an institution like Stanford or MIT. I miss school.