OK, so this has been discussed a few times now, so I thought I'd make a 
thread specifically about it.

The question is: Do you think I should do a PhD?

Yes?

No?

Why?

For reference, I asked on the Haskell IRC server. One guy said he had a 
great time doing his PhD ("but not because of the PhD itself"). Another 
offered me the following helpful resources:

http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/pgh/thesis.html
http://www.nigels.com/jokes/phd1.pdf

Well, that sold it to me! o_O

 From my perspective, the answer seems quite self-evident: No. For the 
following reasons:

1. I am insufficiently intelligent to actually acheive a PhD. (I nearly 
failed my BSc as it is!)

2. I have insufficient money. (I'm still paying for my BSc. Very slowly.)

3. I don't think I can spare the time. (I have a job to do, sucky as it is.)

4. It is *highly* unlikely that having a PhD will make any kind of 
positive change to my employment situation. Nobody is impressed by a 
BSc, and I doubt a PhD will be any different. Everybody wants 
"experience" and/or "people skills".

5. Presumably a PhD is a serious amount of hard work. It's not exactly a 
pleasure cruise. So I'd need a good reason to do one.

6. I rather doubt that you can get a PhD in "doing cool stuff". 
Presumably it must be something rather more specific than that.

7. Where the hell am I going to do a PhD anyway?

8. Are you mental?

I think that'll do for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later...

I seem to vaguely recall somebody (I forget who) claiming to know who to 
go to for this kind of thing, and offering to help me arrange it. 
Perhaps I'm just delusional...

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On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:05:46 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>OK, so this has been discussed a few times now, so I thought I'd make a 
>thread specifically about it.
>
>The question is: Do you think I should do a PhD?
>
>Yes?
>

http://www.computing.open.ac.uk/8025700300415986/(httpPages)/648A4DC03818546780257328003938A6?OpenDocument

http://tinyurl.com/39xxxq


>
>Why?

You are wasted where you are.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On the other hand, if you get a doctorate in education, you can actually 
be as dumb as a half-moldy cup of yogurt, and you still won't get fired 
for anything short of a felony.

As proof I offer the U.S. public school system.

Regards,
John

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>> The question is: Do you think I should do a PhD?
>>
>> Yes?
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/39xxxq

Hmm, interesting. It appears my degree is acceptable. I'm still not 
seeing how I'm going to pay for all of this though. (Or what use it will 
be once I've done it.)

>> Why?
> 
> You are wasted where you are.

This is self-evident. However, surely that just means I should be 
*somewhere* other than there? ;-)

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John VanSickle wrote:
> On the other hand, if you get a doctorate in education, you can actually 
> be as dumb as a half-moldy cup of yogurt, and you still won't get fired 
> for anything short of a felony.
> 
> As proof I offer the U.S. public school system.

I actually have no idea what you're talking about - although spending 3 
years evaluating the intelligence of a half-mouldy cup of yogurt does 
seem like an amusing prospect. ;-)

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On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:37:50 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>>> The question is: Do you think I should do a PhD?
>>>
>>> Yes?
>> 
>> http://tinyurl.com/39xxxq
>
>Hmm, interesting. It appears my degree is acceptable. I'm still not 
>seeing how I'm going to pay for all of this though. (Or what use it will 
>be once I've done it.)
>
>>> Why?
>> 
>> You are wasted where you are.
>
>This is self-evident. However, surely that just means I should be 
>*somewhere* other than there? ;-)

You can get a loan <gulp> from the OU.
You might be more suited to academia than the workplace.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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> 1. I am insufficiently intelligent to actually acheive a PhD. (I nearly 
> failed my BSc as it is!)

Rubbish!  You've demonstrated several times how quickly you can pick up new, 
often quite challenging, concepts.  You probably almost failed your BSc 
because there were subjects you just weren't interested in that much to put 
in the work.

> 2. I have insufficient money. (I'm still paying for my BSc. Very slowly.)

Aren't there lots of options for getting funding?

> 4. It is *highly* unlikely that having a PhD will make any kind of 
> positive change to my employment situation.

Completely incorrect, I don't even understand why you might think like that.

> 5. Presumably a PhD is a serious amount of hard work. It's not exactly a 
> pleasure cruise. So I'd need a good reason to do one.

Because you will enjoy doing it, and will have many more employment options 
once you are done.

> 6. I rather doubt that you can get a PhD in "doing cool stuff". Presumably 
> it must be something rather more specific than that.

No s**t!  List out all the "cool stuff" you enjoy, then start searching...

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Stephen wrote:

> You can get a loan <gulp> from the OU.

Yay! More loans... :-}

> You might be more suited to academia than the workplace.

LOL. The last [and, incidentally first] guy who interviewed me said the 
same thing. Possibly because I informed him that a relation is merely 
some subset of the extended Cartesian product of the respective domains 
of its attributes - a fact which, surely, any database expert will agree 
with.

Then again, given the level of the "SQL test" I had to complete, maybe I 
knew more than him?

("List all customers who have placed an order this year, sorted by 
customer ID". I mean, seriously, are you KIDDING me??)

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>> 1. I am insufficiently intelligent to actually acheive a PhD. (I 
>> nearly failed my BSc as it is!)
> 
> Rubbish!  You've demonstrated several times how quickly you can pick up 
> new, often quite challenging, concepts.

I guess I'm still smarting from that guy yelling at me because I keep 
asking how rank-2 types work and I still can't get my head around it.

> You probably almost failed your 
> BSc because there were subjects you just weren't interested in that much 
> to put in the work.

Actually, I'm still not really comprehending why double-entry book 
keeping is really relevant to a computer science degree, but still...

>> 2. I have insufficient money. (I'm still paying for my BSc. Very slowly.)
> 
> Aren't there lots of options for getting funding?

*shrugs*

>> 4. It is *highly* unlikely that having a PhD will make any kind of 
>> positive change to my employment situation.
> 
> Completely incorrect, I don't even understand why you might think like 
> that.

Well, everybody seemed to think that once I had a degree, people would 
be falling over themselves to be the first to employ me. This is 
manifestly not the case. Nobody gives a **** that I have a degree. Why 
is another qualification going to be different?

>> 5. Presumably a PhD is a serious amount of hard work. It's not exactly 
>> a pleasure cruise. So I'd need a good reason to do one.
> 
> Because you will enjoy doing it

If it's true, that would be a valid reason.

> and will have many more employment options once you are done.

I currently doubt this one.

>> 6. I rather doubt that you can get a PhD in "doing cool stuff". 
>> Presumably it must be something rather more specific than that.
> 
> No s**t!  List out all the "cool stuff" you enjoy, then start searching...

I'm thinking I might make a list of cool stuff just for the hell of it, 
actually. :-D

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On 20-2-2009 13:05, Invisible wrote:
> OK, so this has been discussed a few times now, so I thought I'd make a 
> thread specifically about it.
> 
> The question is: Do you think I should do a PhD?
> 

Yes, but not in computer science. I suggest something applied. Not 
because you like it, but because you could be good at it and it would 
force you to meet other people.

> Why?

Because

[snipped some rubbish]

> I seem to vaguely recall somebody (I forget who) claiming to know who to 
> go to for this kind of thing, and offering to help me arrange it. 
> Perhaps I'm just delusional...

If you had an MSc I am pretty sure I could have arranged it. With a BSc 
it may require a bit more work. And it is not going to be 4 years. 
Though the working conditions will be much better than where you are now 
(except for the final year of course), with an option of dropping out 
anytime you like. Oh, and it would require you to not live with your 
mother anymore.

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