5 ms·

No one can tell you for sure, if it's your passion do it, if you're hoping for a big payday, I'd reconsider.

whorleater 10y ago
I don't actually think that's true, if the "AI bubble" bursts at some point in the near future, the people who'll be in trouble with be those without formal education to back them up.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  > the people who'll be in trouble with be those without formal education to back them up. The people who can't hack it are those who'll be in trouble. Tech has never much been the place where credentials are necessary. Don't specialize and saddle yourself with years of college debt if you're unsure of the field's long term prospects.
  - nwjtkjn 10y ago
    FWIW, one does not accrue debt doing a PhD in something like Machine Learning.
    - toomuchtodo 10y ago
      Depending on the program, possibly. But a PhD is not required to learn nor work in machine learning.
    - randcraw 10y ago
      The debt incurred in a wasted PhD is not monetary; it's lost time.
  - robotresearcher 10y ago
    Almost every good place pays their CS PhD students enough to squeak by without getting into debt. I wish this was more widely known. And companies like Google are pretty keen on academic credentials. They've assembled what must be one of the largest collections of PhDs in history.
    - komaromy 10y ago
      > Almost every good place pays their CS PhD students enough to squeak by without getting into debt. I wish this was more widely known. Right. The debt problems that people have after PhDs are more often due to their undergrad loans sitting around for 4-7 years while they were earning enough to subsist and not more.
  - rampage101 10y ago
    Depends where you live. In the USA credentials matter a lot... in Europe or else where they could care less if you studied somewhere.
- nilved 10y ago
  That's never really been how the industry works. Experience is more valuable than education, so you should get experience while you still can.

I don't actually think that's true, if the "AI bubble" bursts at some point in the near future, the people who'll be in trouble with be those without formal education to back them up.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
> the people who'll be in trouble with be those without formal education to back them up. The people who can't hack it are those who'll be in trouble. Tech has never much been the place where credentials are necessary. Don't specialize and saddle yourself with years of college debt if you're unsure of the field's long term prospects.
- nwjtkjn 10y ago
  FWIW, one does not accrue debt doing a PhD in something like Machine Learning.
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    Depending on the program, possibly. But a PhD is not required to learn nor work in machine learning.
  - randcraw 10y ago
    The debt incurred in a wasted PhD is not monetary; it's lost time.
- robotresearcher 10y ago
  Almost every good place pays their CS PhD students enough to squeak by without getting into debt. I wish this was more widely known. And companies like Google are pretty keen on academic credentials. They've assembled what must be one of the largest collections of PhDs in history.
  - komaromy 10y ago
    > Almost every good place pays their CS PhD students enough to squeak by without getting into debt. I wish this was more widely known. Right. The debt problems that people have after PhDs are more often due to their undergrad loans sitting around for 4-7 years while they were earning enough to subsist and not more.
- rampage101 10y ago
  Depends where you live. In the USA credentials matter a lot... in Europe or else where they could care less if you studied somewhere.
nilved 10y ago
That's never really been how the industry works. Experience is more valuable than education, so you should get experience while you still can.