Is a PhD Worth it? - In computer science - my perspective after 6 years

In this video I will provide my perspective on whether or not a PhD in computer science is worth it. What will you learn doing a PhD? What are soft skills you need and will learn that will help you in a software engineering career? What are other benefits of doing a PhD?
And of course I will also discuss the financial aspects of doing a PhD and what salary you might be able to get with a PhD.

More about me:
My name is Florian Leitner-Fischer and I'm a computer scientist, software engineer and software engineering manager based in Germany. I have experience both in academia as well as in industry managing a globally distributed software engineering team. In my videos I talk about programming, software development, software engineering and computer science as well as the occasional tech / gadget review.

[loeng]

Thanks for Sharing. Enjoy it very much! Hope my son will be following your path.My son is a student at MIT now and will be pursuing his master program next Fall 2022.

[paritejdan]

Thank you for this video! Very helpful

[madhavav]

Very good info. Thanks for sharing your experience. It will be good to share your daily routine as a PHD student.

[frictionless]

Thanks for uploading. I think the points explained in this video applies to other fields of engineering too.

[jarrodsio]

'like somebody who had never eaten pizza in his life telling you that pizza isn't really tasty'. That's a choke slam right there, my friend. Love it.

[abudhabi]

Hi Florian thank you for this video. This really helps me to decide for a phd or not

[MrRobmango]

I am a PhD student many years into the program but many life circumstances have changed for me in the past few years. I am now trying to decide if completing this work is still right for me. I found your video to be helpful to frame my thoughts. Thank you, Florian!

[quantummath]

Nice video Florian. I for one ignored all those losers who discouraged me from getting a Ph.D. (in stochastic dynamic programming and its application in Macro econ) and persuaded that. In my view, if you love the topic and would like to stay in the field and have an upper hand in many negotiation-type settings, the "right" Ph.D. would actually be pretty useful.

[jothamsoboyejo]

Thanks alot for explaining, really helped me redirect where i'm going

[kumarmadduri]

Dear Professor: How does one determine that they have the qualities to take up the Phd Program. Because sometimes I may have passion and interest and on some days it could be not there (may be my Phd guide said something discouraging or I am not able to make progress). How to choose a Phd guide or professor.? What criteria can be used to select a Phd Guide. For example, there may be this famous xyz professor having 100 publications but he may not have time for me. It can also be that the professor is a great researcher with bad attitude. Your guidance and thoughts in this topics is really appeciated.

[vonBottorff]

There's lots of push-back against any CS degree, mainly from the "learn to code" camp with their "real skills for the real world" agit-prop. And of course the PhD has a reputation of being elitist and ivory-tower. Still, it's a fact that CS is a sort of applied math, and math is the elephant in the middle of the IT room. If you want to work for the lower 50% then no, you don't need any CS degree, just "learn to code, " i.e., learn evermore clever programming tricks. But if you want to be in the upper 50% of the IT world, learn the applied math fundamentals behind CS.

[mukeshkumarmishra]

one question if i want to do phd:
1) should i get job first and find the problem and topic then apply for phd with specific problem to fild solution with industry experience
or
2) get directly involved in phd and try to find the topic in course work time, (in india phd duration is 5 years, first two years for course work) because i don't have any perticular topic right now .
i am interested i machine learning, should i go i industry and find how machine learning is use in industry and try to figure out some topics and problems?

[hammer]

Thank you for the video! Do you think it is the right moment to learn CS in these pandemic days when the students study alone at home. Is it better to wait until we can go to the university in person.

[mriduldeka]

Hello Dr. Florian Leitner-Fischer : Nice video! I have 8 years experience as software developer and have worked in companies like Walmart. I work in India and my intrest is in doing research preferably in Germany in software development topics like memory management, improving performance, app optimization etc. I want to do PHD as I have intrest in research. I want to take few suggestions from you.
Is it wise choice to pursue for PHD after 8 years working in industry? Can pursuing PHD help me getting oppurtunities to work in research development? How can I serach for good PHD programmes in Germany? Will appreciate your suggestions.

[alimtanta]

Hi Florian, I would like to ask you, how log did it take you to finish your Phd?

[developandplay]

Thank you for presenting your insight about your PhD and how it shaped your career in Germany!

Afaik in the US the situation is pretty similar to Germany: If a professor really wants you they will pay you to be their PhD student.
Being German myself that's a misconception I had about the US system which I only realised after a US professor told me about it.
Even in Germany you might have to fund yourself unless the professor really wants you.

Additionally the pay increase you get from a PhD mostly applies to traditional (German) companies.
Unfortunately those companies might still end up paying a PhD graduate less than a big US company pays Bachelor graduates (in Germany).
The entry level pay at a place like Google in Munich is around 100k just for reference while a company like BMW or SAP might not even pay PhD graduates that much.
Big US companies will usually only pay you a higher salary if your PhD is required for the job.
Of course I agree with you that money isn't everything but fortunately for us as CS nerds we can have both fun and a decent salary.
Also I definitely agree with you that in a traditional, hierarchical German company having a PhD will probably help you getting into leadership positions.

Personally I'm considering doing a PhD nevertheless - especially if it's a well funded one at a top university.
I would love to learn more about computer architecture and GPU design.
I'll see first though if I can even publish something within my Masters degree...
That seems to be an unwritten rule for most competitive PhD programs...

[ruantristancarlinsky]

You seem really tired and worked out Sir. What was it like balancing the social aspects of life while doing a Phd? Is it possible for me to maintain a healthy social life whilst working so hard?

[johannhandoko]

Hallo florian, vielen Dank für das Video. Ich möchte fragen, ob man mit einer Ausbildung in der Anwendungsentwicklung einen PhD machen kann?

[mukeshkumarmishra]

there is any scope of phd in tech industry, because in India everybody thinks or believes that the scope of phd is only in academic, and with phd it is hard to get job in industry, most of the time they reject because we become over qualified and if one gets then he we be treated as same or less then the bachelor's who has the experience of 5-6 years.

[chaicoder]

Hallo Dr. Florian.. @Dr.Florian Leitner-Fischer i was curious and doubtful to do Phd and then i found this video. Many of my friends and colleague who are currently working in an IT industry always suggested me not to go for Phd as they say it is not worth it. But for me, i am more into research than building application everyday. i am interested to do my Phd in image processing specially in the field of medical science. My motivation is to combine medical science and computer science and cure cancer and many other diseases. But so far, i haven't found any university or professor offering such program. is there any advice for me on this. thank you