PhD's in the Industry?

Taylor Flagg asks: "I'm about to finish up with my bachelor's in Computer Science, and am looking into graduate school options. My advisor is persuading me to go right into the PhD program but I know I don't want to be stuck lecturing for the rest of my life. Are companies in the industry hiring PhDs, and if so, what are their roles and is anything different expected of them (aside from making more cash)?"

Comments

Something Good

[XsynackX]

After reading this post, I went on the Google to check for some reasons on why to get a CS PhD. I came across a really nice article you might like called A Graduate School Survival Guide.

It's by a guy who got his doctorate and he discusses reasons to do so or not to do so. Hope it helps!

Re:It will probably do you more harm than good

[Brandybuck]

There are exceptions out there? some shops are very focused on the sciences, and a PhD would be considered the norm.

That's the key right there. If you've got a PhD, don't go applying for web development or desktop administration. On the other hand, my company is hiring PhDs right now to program digital signal processing. We make embedded medical imaging systems, and we've even hired MDs to do SQA testing! My immediate boss has a PhD from Brown. With only a bachelors degree, and a bachelor of *arts* at that, I feel like the dumb guy at my job.