I hired and worked with many PhDs in big tech. The need for them is somewhat cyclic. More precisely, they are in demand when a new technology becomes important

I hired and worked with many PhDs in big tech. The need for them is somewhat cyclic. More precisely, they are in demand when a new technology becomes important that few outside of academia know. That’s AI now, distributed computing before that, alternative (NoSQL) databases before that. After awhile (if it isn’t a fad), these niche areas become mainstream and you can find people who are AI programmers, or distributed systems engineers, who learned as undergraduates or on the job and the PhD jobs go back to being more research. I do feel a PhD does not automatically make you overqualified as much as it did in the 80s or 90s. Programs also seem to produce more PhDs with practical skills now. I also note that many of the very top professionals—CEOs and CTOs and Tech Fellows—do have PhDs now. I do think it is hard to go back to school later. If you are only two years away from finishing, I would suggest you continue (unless it is really awful financially or otherwise.) It may not seem like it now, but when you’re 60, looking back over your career, two years will seem like nothing, whereas you may feel regret for not getting your degree. The book “Range: How Generalists Thrive in a World Full of Specialists” is the best book I know for thinking about your entire career path. Even if you are a specialist, “Range” talks about how you will go through many jobs and have to learn many skills in your life, and that these “big” decisions early in career are actually not as irrecoverable as they seem at the time. I wish I had read it when I was 29. I would have been more patient in some choices but also taken more risk