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The author makes some good points, but what they don't realize is: For an intellectually and professionally ambitious person, the the options carry many of the

The author makes some good points, but what they don't realize is: For an intellectually and professionally ambitious person, the the options carry many of the same challenges, although the details might vary. I'm in a PhD program right now, but I did startups in my 20s. I worked crazy hours. I broke myself physically and mentally. Many relationships got destroyed along the way. The money was bad (ramen) and uncertain -- when do you give up when the salary stops but the idea still seems good? The ideas were ambitious and open-ended. The goals were vague. We made mistakes, wasted weeks and months, pivoted, failed. We were doing research. The PhD has had its challenges (learning the literature has been hard for me), but when I started research I thought, "Oh, right, I recognize this. This I know how to do." The PhD isn't the problem. What's the alternative?

pnathan 14y ago
From a CS/software standpoint, I don't see a great deal of personal difference between an aggressive industry position and PhD research. Both involve heavy overtime, intense focus, and uncertain futures. Financially, of course, there is a difference, which will bleed out into other areas... but this is less important after your needs & small wants are covered. Put another way, working 6-7 days/wk for 16 hour days in industry was not meaningfully different from doing research; actually, research was more pleasant IMO. In both scenarios you come home and zonk, but in one you have the freedom to go wander around, stare at the clouds, and think, without getting in trouble.