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Except you've been studying this very narrow topic for 6 years and spending all your time on it. Any technique you're using is most likely very specialised to t

Except you've been studying this very narrow topic for 6 years and spending all your time on it. Any technique you're using is most likely very specialised to that topic or something you learnt in either masters or undergrad. Whereas someone in the industry has been developing their generalist skills and keeping up with current technology.

Chronic29 12y ago
And the moment the self-taught data scientist's model is not working due to a hidden conditional dependence causing overfitting, you will have wished you had a CS PhD instead of someone with MS to help since your ads are now generating less revenue. Everything in the above paragraph is why companies, both large and small, will prefer PhDs over the software engineer (for certain problems).
xerophtye 12y ago
I don't really think working in the industry makes you a generalist. If you have been working on the same product for a couple of years, your experience is limited mostly to that field, that technology, that problem etc. Of course, the benefit of not being in a PhD program is that you are free to hop around and work on a different thing every year.
sheepmullet 12y ago
"Except you've been studying this very narrow topic for 6 years and spending all your time on it. Any technique you're using is most likely very specialised to that topic or something you learnt in either masters or undergrad. Whereas someone in the industry has been developing their generalist skills and keeping up with current technology." True. Although if you can complete a phd at Stanford you almost certainly have the ability and drive to get to senior developer level within a year or two in industry. But when it comes down to it most companies don't hire for who you will be or who you can become but for your current skills and abilities. Which is ok, but don't then turn around and complain about a skills shortage. And don't complain that employees have very little loyalty. And don't complain when you have to pay $150-$300/hr for experienced developers with expertise in your specific stack.
aortega 12y ago
I disagree. I believe 6 years in the industry also focus you in a very narrow topic, like SAP, web or Iphone apps. You think you are generalist because you don't even know anything else exist.

Chronic29 12y ago

And the moment the self-taught data scientist's model is not working due to a hidden conditional dependence causing overfitting, you will have wished you had a CS PhD instead of someone with MS to help since your ads are now generating less revenue. Everything in the above paragraph is why companies, both large and small, will prefer PhDs over the software engineer (for certain problems).

xerophtye 12y ago

I don't really think working in the industry makes you a generalist. If you have been working on the same product for a couple of years, your experience is limited mostly to that field, that technology, that problem etc. Of course, the benefit of not being in a PhD program is that you are free to hop around and work on a different thing every year.

sheepmullet 12y ago

"Except you've been studying this very narrow topic for 6 years and spending all your time on it. Any technique you're using is most likely very specialised to that topic or something you learnt in either masters or undergrad. Whereas someone in the industry has been developing their generalist skills and keeping up with current technology." True. Although if you can complete a phd at Stanford you almost certainly have the ability and drive to get to senior developer level within a year or two in industry. But when it comes down to it most companies don't hire for who you will be or who you can become but for your current skills and abilities. Which is ok, but don't then turn around and complain about a skills shortage. And don't complain that employees have very little loyalty. And don't complain when you have to pay $150-$300/hr for experienced developers with expertise in your specific stack.

aortega 12y ago

I disagree. I believe 6 years in the industry also focus you in a very narrow topic, like SAP, web or Iphone apps. You think you are generalist because you don't even know anything else exist.