[leothekim]

When I toyed with the idea of getting a PhD, I spoke to a professor at a CS conference about what it's like to be on a conference committee. One of the first things he said was "Well if my paper doesn't get in another professor's conference, there's no way that professor's papers are getting in _my_ conference." (Double-blind notwithstanding, the research topics in this particular conference had known investigators.)

As much as I enjoyed the toil and reward of seeking novel results, I decided at that point that I could enjoy computer science and work on interesting (possibly novel) things without having to be a part of academia and the petty politics that drive a lot of it.

It really depends on what you define as "interesting" and what you want to get out of your investment in time and energy towards your studies. In a lot of ways, there's no better time to be alive as a software engineer than now. You can apply those skills in such a wide variety of industries (multitudes of AI applications, VR, health care, transportation, etc), many of which are getting new or increased investment from VCs. You may not work on something specifically interesting, but your contribution to a larger goal or mission can be greatly satisfying. I'd say pick an industry where you can have even a small impact as an engineer, or a company where you may have exposure to many areas and drill down into things that interest you.