[Halladie7]

Grad school dropout here. I never wanted to be a professor. I have no interest in teaching. I just wanted to research. My degree would have been in CS/ML/NLP.

When I realized that I would be out over half a million dollars in earnings over the time I was in grad school, I made the decision to leave. The fact that my advisor was a terrible researcher and a horrible person made it much easier.

[make3]

wouldn't you have made more at the end?

[Halladie7]

No. Because I'd have gone to private industry anyway. Starting research and engineering salaries are roughly equivalent. Their respective progressions are about the same too.

You'd only make more money if you founded a company and it was successful. You don't make fuck you money as employee #5000.

[Analog24]

At some of the larger tech companies the salaries for scientists/researchers is usually higher than for engineers specifically because of the extra educational requirements. Where I work there are actually on two separate pay scales to account for this. I can't say this is true everywhere but there are definitely cases where you could have made more had you stayed in industry (emphasis on "could", it's not guaranteed).

[Halladie7]

There's definitely variation from company to company, but the gap isn't huge. Let's say the private research role got me $30k more than engineering. It would take at least 16 years to make up for the 5-6 I spend for a phd. Lots of variables though. I made the right choice for myself.

[Analog24]

People usually work for 30 years... Grad school is definitely a long term investment but it's not always the best choice. As you said, in the end you have to do what's right for you.

[ramy_d]

500 thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze at. The thing about crushing debt is that ... it's absolutely crushing.

[obmelvin]

one shouldn't run up debt in a STEM graduate program. Sure, there is a big opportunity cost with regard to wages, but that's not crushing debt

[Halladie7]

My tuition was fully paid and I got a $1600/mo stipend for being a dedicated research assistant. So the opportunity cost wasn't worth it when I discovered I'd be earning the same on either career path.

[Halladie7]

Especially when you consider compound interest. :)