[fsloth]

I have a lot of PhD friends (physics and CS) and I personally dropped out of PhD program after 6 months to work in industry.

The people who absolutely needed their PhD were those that loved research and were and are amazing at it. They are now professors, researchers, etc. and are obviously doing what they enjoy.

Others took PhD to support their self esteem. Some felt it was easiest to continue studying and not go to an industry job yet.

The saddest category thought they would find meaningful career in PhD work but only found dead end academic career path and burned out or just switched careers.

I don't regret not doing my PhD. Software engineers are generally recognised for their skills, not for their degrees.

It sounds like you are considering PhD out of fear and not out of love. I would advice against it...