> I am an engineer, with a PhD in physics. The theory had exactly zero use as soon as I quit academia. Counter-example: I have a M.Sc in CS, with a specializat

> I am an engineer, with a PhD in physics. The theory had exactly zero use as soon as I quit academia. Counter-example: I have a M.Sc in CS, with a specialization in programming languages. I know how to build a compiler, and it helps me almost every day. I’m not building a compiler every day, but the things I’ve learnt from compilers influence every piece of code I write. I can better optimize my code knowing how it’ll be compiled/interpreted by the machine. In fact, I spent a lot of time at the university complaining I was learning useless stuff. Nowadays I’m super-grateful to my teachers for providing me all that knowledge I use every day, even if it’s not a direct application.