To some degree I think this begs the question of "what do you think doing data science is/what do you want it to be for you." You mention "top research jobs" w

To some degree I think this begs the question of "what do you think doing data science is/what do you want it to be for you." You mention "top research jobs" which gives me a reasonable vector to assume on, but I'll make some noise from this corner that there are other routes: I've managed to get my name on some reasonable bits of data-oriented/ML-based patents and publications, while still in a more "typical" career; ranging from sysop/research software support, to a SWE in big-tech doing "data-scienc-ey" work internally, but usually with direct applications as opposed to truly theoretical. Now, I certainly worked with some PHD data scientists in those jobs, but arrogantly, I did not find myself "at a loss" in terms of providing value and pulling my weight. To your question about how I managed this, I'd attribute it half to having prepared well for this: oriented my undergrad and masters to be a split of CS and applied math, with heavy emphasis on prob/stat, graph theory, vector/discrete math, the sort of things that I got a sense were good to have on a toolbelt; and half to using these in progressively more involved "Data-oriented jobs" that didn't require upfront credentials: adminning petascale clusters, helping researchers utilize them, working in industry spaces heavily overlapping ML, data science tooling, and data/textual processing. Eventually you'll build up a track record such that the PHD isn't necessary to demonstrate that you can deliver good work in that space. To be evenhanded, I absolutely would have trouble getting a "pure research" position as a PI, or running a lab. But I've never really wanted that, and never really regretted (actually, felt quite vindicated by) my choice to stop at a Masters degree. Again, I just want to emphasize: the most important question to me would be figuring out what YOU want, and whether a PHD is a non-starter to open those doors. (For instance, I was told years ago it was not realistic to get a job at MSR without a PHD, except as a research-SWE, not a full scientist. This may have changed but I assume it's still roughly true; my wife has run up against similar issues in biotech where to get the "Scientist" title, even if you have the same competencies built up over time in practice, you need a PHD. This is slowly changing over time, especially as programming becomes more critical and the phd system continues to be... a bit disfunctional, but that's a slow slow change.)