I have a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science / Biomedicine. Its easy to confuse the value a PhD holds and there is a large amount of misinformation around the intern

I have a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science / Biomedicine. Its easy to confuse the value a PhD holds and there is a large amount of misinformation around the internet which doesn't help. The following are my opinions and experiences and shouldn't be viewed as an authority. Different PhDs, different specialties and different universities will result in different experiences and outcomes. A PhD is simply a ticket that gives its holder an opportunity to move into fields (academia typically) that are not available to the general public. Some industries value PhDs higher than others. You'll never get anywhere in the medical industry without appropriate qualifications whereas in the IT industry experience can often hold more weight than certificates. People will also claim that a PhD gives you the opportunity to concentrate your entire focus on one particular topic for an extended period of time with great freedom. Sadly this isn't always the case. The pressures to publish, whether from yourself or from your supervisors who are relying on you to assist their careers, often means the 'independence' of a PhD becomes the 'dependence' on completing your supervisors work. That being said, completing a PhD gives you the confidence to assert yourself as an expert in a particular field and requires you to have a great depth of understanding in a very niche topic. Often the greatest reward of a PhD is knowing you've expanded humanities understanding of a particular topic by a tiny amount, and in doing so have contributed to the great growing expanse of knowledge. I was told at the start of my PhD that if i didn't love research I would never finish. I don't love research. I hate the politics, the failures, the bureaucracy, the poor funding and incessant grant applications and the terrible working conditions and hours. However, I love discovery and probing the unknown. Anyone can do a PhD in my opinion but I don't think everyone should and while I enjoyed my experience I wouldn't repeat it. Again though, my experience would probably be far removed from someone who did a PhD in computer science or history.