[enmi2015]

A PhD is super fun and super hard. But it is key to be realistic about the outcomes. It is a life changing experience, but definitely have a plan for the end of it. There are so few academic tenure jobs and so it pays to do a bit of research on what you want at the end off it beyond just academic life. If you can do that the experiences are amazing, learning to think and work at the higher level and learning to compromise and work through others work is utterly refreshing. It is definitely a space to let yourself really explore thinking and researching.

[johan_larson]

> A PhD is super fun

Experiences differ. A lot. Personally, I had an awful time during my PhD, and between the penury and the toil and the bleak prospects afterward, I'd say you're definitely in the minority on this one.

I wouldn't recommend a PhD to anyone who isn't dead set on a job that requires one.

[gajjanag]

> Personally, I had an awful time during my PhD, and between the penury and the toil and the bleak prospects afterward, I'd say you're definitely in the minority on this one.

Do you have any evidence for the minority claim beyond the personal anecdote? Also, this is field dependent, so a mention of the field could be helpful.

[sndean]

> Do you have any evidence for the minority claim beyond the personal anecdote?

As a second anecdote, I've never met anyone who's said getting their PhD was fun. (My building is ~95% PhDs from a range of different disciplines)

[johan_larson]

My claim is based on my own experience as a CS PhD student and my conversations with other graduate students within the department and outside it during my studies. Christ, there was so much bitching. And it consisted of the kind of grim complaints I never heard during undergrad days or later on the job.

That said, CS PhDs are pretty lucky. The worst case fallback position of a job as a software developer isn't bad. It gets much worse for less commercial disciplines. God help the poor blighter with a PhD in Medieval Literature who doesn't snag an academic post.

[tgarma1234]

Yes... the two languages requirement is A LOT easier in technical field than in the humanities. Try being fluent or functionally fluent for an exam in two human, spoken, academic languages vs learning a couple of programming languages. At least that was the experience I had. Learning enough French and German to read and write in French and German at the PhD level was absolutely soul destroying whereas now that I have had several normal business jobs and been asked to learn various programming languages as part of the work was basically... easy by comparison. A few jobs in software development are rapidly becoming the "webmaster" of our time.

[enmi2015]

Good point. I did a PhDs in the humanities even though I am from a technical background. Had a great time.