[jcpsimmons]

PhD in Multimedia Art here. I transitioned during the degree into web dev. While I don't regret getting the PhD I wouldn't recommend the process to anyone. Funding is lean so you'll be taking a vow of poverty for 4-6 years. On top of that, even with your assistantships, you'll be constantly pestered to do additional, uncompensated work. In addition to this, something about the scarcity of funding, and uncertain future of academia in general seems to bring out the worst in people. I noticed an unusually high concentration of narcissists in my own department (maybe varies by degree).

Paradoxically it made the job hunt hard, even though I had a good deal of part time web dev job experience going into my full-time hunt, those three letters after my name seemed to turn people off so much that I had much better luck leaving the PhD off of my resume and mentioning it later on in the interview process once I had gotten my foot in the door.

My first job after leaving, I am making a higher salary than 4/5 of my committee members made last year (public university/public salaries). No regrets but wouldn't recommend to anyone. It's a severe amount of stress.