I am finishing my MSc in DS. Is it worth it to go for PhD in ML in same market? (Seattle). My main goal would be to increase TC and become ML engineer; in meantime transition to tech company. What is potential TC at Google, MS, Amz, etc? Also if anyone has knowledge of schools that offer this type of program online? I found UW offers this but is on campus only... have yet to find any distance learning options at any school. Any other general advice welcome... Current base $140k plus 10k bonus as DS role, 2 YoE in field. #machinelearning #datascience
You really don’t need a PhD to do the type of ML work that you get to do in industry. Most likely you’ll just be writing data pipelines, running experiments with existing frameworks, and at most implement some algorithms from papers.
PhD is for fun, not money. Too much opportunity cost even in PhD impacted fields like ML. Spend an extra grand on networking instead and save yourself 4+ years of no career advancement or real world salary.
I don't know many teams at Microsoft that take advantage of people trained in AI/ML bring. There are certainly many research groups that do take advantage of the talent, but I currently know a few people with phds in ML that have pretty much been turn into database and dashboard duties. Not sure if the academic program makes a big difference into what you will be doing...
Doing a PhD takes 4 to 8 years. Instead using that time to work in the industry you could accumulate immense amount of experience plus earning a decent salary. If doing a PhD is only for increasing TC, then you are doing it wrong.
Never get a PhD, I am on course to finish mine and to my last breath, I will regret this decision
Care to elaborate?
There are many factors involved getting a PhD. If you are in a good lab, with work that matches with your interest, sure that might pan out good. Still, there are quite a few hurdles along the way. Which is your area, how hot is it, how difficult it is to publish, whether your professor is an asshole or not, etc. etc. For me, my professor was super nice and helpful, buy he doesn't have any collaborations, intra lab collaborations are also minimal, so I had to come up with my own ideas from the very fist year. Ultimately, I have a poor publication record. And now I am applying to jobs where I could get in with an MS. In my opinion, if you want to stay in industry and do ML, get a research based masters first, that way if you can get a publication or two and feel you really want to do research, get into a top notch university for PhD. Or, you can go to industry too, work as a research engineer or something, the research that you did in masters will help you. So, unless you are absolutely certain that you want to do research or join academia, Don't get a PhD just for the sake of it or for the money factor.
I’ll throw in my 2 cents. Once upon a time, I too was fed up with grad school and wanted to leave after just an MS. A professor convinced me to stay another 3 years and finish my PhD. Hands down the best decision I ever made in life. PhD opens up many more doors to you. Also, the prestige that comes with the highest academic degree among coworkers, family, relatives and friends is worth far more that a few years worth of salary if you entered the workforce right after an MS. IMHO, you should definitely get your PhD! You’re young and have the patience, the mental capacity, and the time to do this. Sooner or later, you’ll enter the TC rat race and will be slave to your job anyway. Why not take a few more years and get your PhD. At least for me, my PhD made me more humble and increased my confidence and self worth. Also, I work in R&D where most of us have PhDs, the few that don’t, don’t get higher pay and/or faster promotions. Maybe unfair but that’s the reality. My vote, get it! You will not regret it. I have met many people who regretted not getting college degrees, but I have yet to meet someone who regretted a college degree especially at the PhD level.
Plenty of people on Blind (and elsewhere for that matter) who regret getting MS/PhDs. What's your TC and yoe? It's blind so you gotta give those 😂
What research do you want to do?
OP, Have you figured out which all Universities have online or part time PhD in CS? Even I am looking for the same. Please DM me.
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Ms and Phd don’t maximize TC. Only climbing up the ladder, mainly as people manager.