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I did my PhD in econometrics. Reading this article, it looks like it was a general interest article profiling a professor who just got tenure. So if people ar

I did my PhD in econometrics. Reading this article, it looks like it was a general interest article profiling a professor who just got tenure. So if people are asking "how is this relevant to me", "how can I use this" or "should I learn more", the answers are most likely "it's not", "you can't", and "no". Not trying to be negative here, it's just that there are dozens of people getting tenure in econometrics every year at a similar level, all working on things that might seem to have some relevance to what HN readers are working on. From a HN readers perspective, there is nothing unique or special that I see here.

Rainymood 11y ago
Hi! I'm currently (next year) getting my Master's in econometrics. I got my Bachelor Econometrics almost cum laude (7.95). My thesis was on using computational linguistics (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) to extract information from financial transcripts, which was cool. Do you feel like your PhD has been 'worth it'? I've been struggling with this question if I want to do a PhD. I have always loved academia and learning new things but I dont see really myself with a career in academia, maybe as a backup plan (how stupid that might sound). Sorry for bothering you!
- zzleeper 11y ago
  YMMV but it's less rewarding that what you would think (5th yr PhD Fin here)
- animefan 11y ago
  I think the most important test is "do you care deeply about or are fascinated by the subject in question". If the answer is yes, then a PhD is not a bad idea (conditional on ok job prospects, inside or outside academia). A PhD will almost never be a better decision than a Masters degree from a financial perspective. But it can result in a different and perhaps more interesting career even in industry. If you are considering economics, one thing you have to understand is that econometrics is very oriented towards economics, and if you are more interested in statistics per se, you would probably be better off in a stats program. There is very little machine learning in econometrics even today.
  - Rainymood 11y ago
    Thanks for taking the time to reply back, I really appreciate it. Would you recommend working hard as hell and focus on getting my Master's cum laude, or get in some work experience on the side? How long did your PhD take? I recently talked with an actuary PhD graduate and he did his in 3 yrs in The Netherlands, I also spoke to a graduate who did his at Cornell in 5 yrs.

Rainymood 11y ago

Hi! I'm currently (next year) getting my Master's in econometrics. I got my Bachelor Econometrics almost cum laude (7.95). My thesis was on using computational linguistics (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) to extract information from financial transcripts, which was cool. Do you feel like your PhD has been 'worth it'? I've been struggling with this question if I want to do a PhD. I have always loved academia and learning new things but I dont see really myself with a career in academia, maybe as a backup plan (how stupid that might sound). Sorry for bothering you!

zzleeper 11y ago
YMMV but it's less rewarding that what you would think (5th yr PhD Fin here)
animefan 11y ago
I think the most important test is "do you care deeply about or are fascinated by the subject in question". If the answer is yes, then a PhD is not a bad idea (conditional on ok job prospects, inside or outside academia). A PhD will almost never be a better decision than a Masters degree from a financial perspective. But it can result in a different and perhaps more interesting career even in industry. If you are considering economics, one thing you have to understand is that econometrics is very oriented towards economics, and if you are more interested in statistics per se, you would probably be better off in a stats program. There is very little machine learning in econometrics even today.
- Rainymood 11y ago
  Thanks for taking the time to reply back, I really appreciate it. Would you recommend working hard as hell and focus on getting my Master's cum laude, or get in some work experience on the side? How long did your PhD take? I recently talked with an actuary PhD graduate and he did his in 3 yrs in The Netherlands, I also spoke to a graduate who did his at Cornell in 5 yrs.