CrateDane at 2024-02-04 05:44:00+00:00 ID: kov96lh

Do you already have a master's degree, or did you start your PhD straight from a bachelor's degree? A master's degree can help a lot in the Danish job market, as in many fields very few applicants take "just" a bachelor's degree.

Specifically in AI and IT though, generally you should be able to get a job pretty easily.

PartyExperience3718 at 2024-02-04 07:13:58+00:00 ID: koulrvt

I would recommend finishing your PhD. A master's will probably be just as fine, but a PhD will be a better door opener in a lot of companies. (I personally did not gain any particular knowledge or Jedi mind tricks from doing mine, it was pretty much just three more years of the same).

Lots of companies do and will apply AI, so I would not worry too much about job opportunities. The Alexandra Institute could be a place to start looking.

Best of luck.

cipherphobia at 2024-02-04 07:26:30+00:00 ID: koumuyy

I have never hired anyone in IT based on their education. I don’t even look at it when I read a resume. I have also never myself been questioned about it. What would possibly happen if you applied for a job in our company is, that we would discard your application because you lack actual work experience. I would probably pick the person with a bachelors degree and 5 years of work experience over the person with a PHD and 0 years of work experience.

Petoor at 2024-02-04 05:44:00+00:00 ID: koud7x1

Data scientist here. PhD does not matter. A master is just fine. What matter the most is relevant work experience (e.g. student jobs). If you land a job in a large enough company (for instance Mærsk or Novo Nordisk) you would find masters and phds are on a equal footing.

Masters MIGHT even be better off since the "wasted time" doing your PhD (from a company perspective) can be 3 years of work experience on your cv.

rasm3000 at 2024-02-04 06:51:41+00:00 ID: koujs6j

The consensus seems to be, "if you want to do a PhD for the money (my case), don't do it"

As a person with a PhD in a rather narrow IT field, I have to agree :-). I work with people that "only" got a Master, and they make about the same as I do. But then again, I also work with a guy that didn't even finish high school, and he is probably one of the most talented developers I have ever worked with.

I work a lot with ML and AI, and my PhD was the reason I got my current, rather well-paid job, but professionally speaking, I could have done the job just as well, with just a Master. I work as a contractor/IT consultant, but on larger projects, that to some degree, has a research aspect to them, and here it's beneficial to tell the customer that "we provide you with consultants with PhD". At the end of the day, I'm nothing but a code monkey, with a glorified title and a slightly bigger paycheck.

I had the same feeling as you, that academia didn't really make sense, several times through my PhD (and my Master too, for that sake :-) ). I think it's quite normal to feel that way some times. My advice would really be to just suck it up, and finish what you have started. Your PhD might not land you the dream job or a lot of money right away, but it for sure won't be a disadvantage either.

-Misla- at 2024-02-04 08:05:01+00:00 ID: kouq5ri

I would say it’s not so much about the money, but more about what kind of job you want in the industry.

If the job you are looking for is more on the R&D side and less on the routine operations side (for the Danish reading - or for job postings, this would be terms like “udvikling” vs. “drift”), a phd could be a really strong assets in the big, attractive companies. If you want to do purely routine keeping-everything-running and not long term projects, then you don’t need the skill set of a phd.

That said, job postings often write both terms and a pretty vague on what the job exactly entails, but maybe take a look at job postings of the jobs you could be interested in. If the postings mention “phd or masters’s degree” that’s a pretty sure way to see that they do value a phd.

While not in the same field, I have some experience with this, from friends, and from being rejected myself. The “IT hire everyone who can just code a little bit” is definitely not true anymore, if it has ever been true. I have a master’s in physics and a failed phd in (geo)physics.

I have applied to data scientist jobs in various forms, and also for the ones that only require a master’s, I don’t get any answer other than a rejection long after. And yes, I am very clear about what I can code - and cannot. I have zero machine learning experience as it wasn’t applicable for my topic.

I have a lot of previous study colleagues on LinkedIn, and their previous study colleagues, and almost all of them who now work in the industry has a phd. But they also often work in a r&d-type role. It’s not like phds are given out left and right, but the number is growing. So if you are applying for this type of job, you are

That said, whether you should continue with a stressful phd… I continued with mine, for the full duration there was a salary and even after for half salary and a little more after for no salary. I still miss my research everyday, and I was without job for more than half a year mutiple times, because a master’s in physics that is not industry-tailored is not that hireable. It’s a really shitty situation, and I will probably never be able to get back into research, because that requires a phd, and no one is gonna hire a failed phd to do a phd. Researcher jobs that aren’t phd or post docs or doesn’t require a phd are very few in natural science in Denmark.

Holiday-Hand-3611 at 2024-02-04 09:59:58+00:00 ID: kouzn7y

The title of PhD is useless in itself However, high impact PhD gets you better jobs Finishing PhD with one pubkication, you have wasted your time and te market will pay you accordingly. Biz model is do PhD but get a lot of publications and impact. So when I read I am lost in paper and conferences things, I read a person not understanding what a PhD is what is its purpose and how you get rewarded for doing it later on. Probably wrong rental framework and bad mentorship.