[mikewarot]

My understanding is the growth in PhD holders far outstripped the slots they could fill in Academia in the US sometime around 1970. Why would you want to put yourself into such an oversupplied labor market?

I assume your talents can be far better used in the private or government sectors.

Fellow HN users: Am I mistaken?

[the_only_law]

So here’s my question, someone can probably explain here.

I want to do R&D work in an industrial capacity. The particular domain/industry is a very credentialized one. I have no interested in going in academia as a career (becoming a professor, etc.)

I look at industry/government roles doing that sort of thing and they want you to have prior research experience in the domain, if not flat out listing a PhD as a requirement. How do you get in that sort of role without the research experience of a PhD? I’ve heard plenty about the institutional corruption, financial sacrifices, etc. That stuff is all fine with me in the long run, nut admittedly the time-cost is a bit intimidating.