[eanthy]

Only place in industry that requires a PhD is Data Science. How interesting what you do there is depends on the company. In most cases as a Data Scientist you won't be doing much coding. Otherwise if you want to go in any other software development you don't need PhD, because as you said you don't want to be a researcher. That being said its very likely for your 9-5 programming job to be very boring and not what you expected so I suggest you don't completely rule out researching, because it probably won't get any more interesting than that.

[threeseed]

I only know a few hundred Data Scientists and (a) you don't need a PhD and (b) they do quite a bit of coding. But I suppose if you work in a more research capacity that might be flipped.

And personally I would be wary of any company that insists on a PhD since it's a clear sign to me that they are clueless. Since great Data Scientists are those with strong EQ and communication skills not those they know the most algorithms.

[bane]

Concur. I know several dozen Data Scientists with and w/o PhDs, at a wide range of skill levels. In general the better DSs I know, the ones who can deliver useful solutions in meaningful timeframes, are the ones who chose not to pursue the PhD, but have attained an MS in some engineering field and have a desire to learn the technical ropes that feed into their field and that their field feeds.

[eanthy]

No idea where you are but I almost never see DS jobs which don't require PhD at least for proper companies.

[chrisseaton]

Few jobs explicitly require a PhD, but realistically for many jobs a PhD is the only way to acquire the experience, reputation, and connections to get the job.