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I concur. My experience with CS PhDs is that they lack the production-oriented mindset needed for the real world. We hired a CS PhD to write reports for us. In

I concur. My experience with CS PhDs is that they lack the production-oriented mindset needed for the real world. We hired a CS PhD to write reports for us. In six months he did not write one single line of code, but produced a very impressive whitepaper about the code he intended to write. He went on to write more whitepapers for a company specializing in vaporware somewhere else. I've had similar experiences with PhDs in many other fields as well. I have a great deal of respect for the degree, the person who worked so hard for it, and I love to read their often brilliant research, but either the effort of getting the degree or the mindset it takes to want to obtain one makes these people nearly useless in the business world. Give me an entry-level BS degree or 5-6 years equivalent experience any day.

tensor 14y ago
Meanwhile, the top tech firms aggressively recruit CS PhDs.
- modarts 14y ago
  Well, more power to them. They have the resources to train them up to a level where they'll be productive.
  - tensor 14y ago
    Or perhaps this thread is full of obscene generalizations that are untrue. Hell, it even started off on the wrong foot by invoking "real world". All that term means is that you think your work is somehow relevant while the work of others, in this case PhDs, is not relevant. Parts of this community have a real problem with ego and unsubstantiated generalizations.
    - crucifiction 14y ago
      No, real world = in production for potentially a long time, iterated with customer feedback. phd/ms work = functional hacks that maybe a professor or the student ever looks at/codes against and that are eventually thrown away. except in very rare circumstances
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  Ya, google is sucking up many of them. But don't tell parent, he doesn't get it and doesn't need to get it.
- foobarian 14y ago
  In my experience, there are two kinds of CS PhDs, one which is more theory oriented and not very good at coding, and the other which is more systems oriented and tends to attract crack coders too bored to stay in industry.
rprospero 14y ago
I find your experience with PhDs fascinating because it's been the exact opposite of my experience with graduate school. My graduate program has been far more production oriented than any of the private sector work I've ever done. In the private sector, I've been given a list of specifications and told to report back in a week on what progress I'd made. In research, on the other hand, a professor would hand me the requirements and then stand there until I delivered the code. If the professor was on a looser deadline, he might take a chair while he waited me. Most deadlines are measured in hours, instead of days, so the thought of a PhD not having his code finished in a month is baffling to me. Of course, I'll also be the first to admit that this still produces some poor production habits. When you have a twenty minute deadline to write code in a language you've never seen before on during your first ever experience on a VAX, you tend to skip the unit tests. And the source control. And the comments. And the white space. But, I'd like to think that, if I had an extra hour, I'd go back for all of that.

tensor 14y ago

Meanwhile, the top tech firms aggressively recruit CS PhDs.

modarts 14y ago
Well, more power to them. They have the resources to train them up to a level where they'll be productive.
- tensor 14y ago
  Or perhaps this thread is full of obscene generalizations that are untrue. Hell, it even started off on the wrong foot by invoking "real world". All that term means is that you think your work is somehow relevant while the work of others, in this case PhDs, is not relevant. Parts of this community have a real problem with ego and unsubstantiated generalizations.
  - crucifiction 14y ago
    No, real world = in production for potentially a long time, iterated with customer feedback. phd/ms work = functional hacks that maybe a professor or the student ever looks at/codes against and that are eventually thrown away. except in very rare circumstances
seanmcdirmid 14y ago
Ya, google is sucking up many of them. But don't tell parent, he doesn't get it and doesn't need to get it.
foobarian 14y ago
In my experience, there are two kinds of CS PhDs, one which is more theory oriented and not very good at coding, and the other which is more systems oriented and tends to attract crack coders too bored to stay in industry.

rprospero 14y ago

I find your experience with PhDs fascinating because it's been the exact opposite of my experience with graduate school. My graduate program has been far more production oriented than any of the private sector work I've ever done. In the private sector, I've been given a list of specifications and told to report back in a week on what progress I'd made. In research, on the other hand, a professor would hand me the requirements and then stand there until I delivered the code. If the professor was on a looser deadline, he might take a chair while he waited me. Most deadlines are measured in hours, instead of days, so the thought of a PhD not having his code finished in a month is baffling to me. Of course, I'll also be the first to admit that this still produces some poor production habits. When you have a twenty minute deadline to write code in a language you've never seen before on during your first ever experience on a VAX, you tend to skip the unit tests. And the source control. And the comments. And the white space. But, I'd like to think that, if I had an extra hour, I'd go back for all of that.