Also, a few years down the road, the relevant experience you have will weight orders of magnitude more than your degree or PhD. Right now, your decision should

Also, a few years down the road, the relevant experience you have will weight orders of magnitude more than your degree or PhD. Right now, your decision should be based mainly on what you would like to do be doing in your professional life, don't sweat too much on your initial salary (which even as a junior developer, it should be at the very least decent). Just keep practicing (hint, read "How to crack the coding interview"), and you should be fine.