PhD is basically a necessity for research roles so this is the only way to go down that career path. Just make sure you have a great advisor lined up. Think as hard about your choice of advisor as anything else. I had a crappy advisor and had to exit early.
PhD. It's an achievement and something that will always belong to you and make you stand out. It opens up more doors down the road. Don't be short-sighted. Companies and offers come and go. When you look back years later, the few years it took to do a PhD are inconsequential.
What's your goal in life? Are you business oriented or research oriented? If you like to move around, like business, corporate, etc. don't do PhD. Just work, get promoted and make money. If you like research more, go for PhD. It takes a while to finish so you have to really like it.
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Just bare in mind that you won’t make much money while doing PHD vs working as SDE.