So, recently I had to make the decision of whether to go back into academia - albeit only part-time - or not. In the end I had to make the decision that doing a PHD was not a good investment, which is quite sad to me because the research factor of my job is actually pretty much what I live for.

Won't go into the long details about the why (long/short of it, no boost in salary, being dependent upon other people for funding, being forced into a structure I likely would chafe against) but it makes me wonder a bit. Research and innovation is what drives society forward, but actually becoming an academic doesn't really seem to have that many benefits. You may as well just start your own company and strike out on your own with any crazy ideas you have.

But that aside has anyone else either got, or considered, either a PHD or masters and for what reason?

PS I didn't do a masters because I wanted to get work experience asap after I finished Uni. Everyone I talked too said only do it if you were curious about the subject matter because one year of experience vs masters was normally pretty much equal, at least for me.

Symphonic : Yea, I have heard that a number of times. PHDs don't make as much sometimes as people with just a masters degree. In my field we have hired both flavors and it seemed that sometimes a person with a PHD thinks more theoretical rather than practical. That can be a negative for some businesses since they are interested in making money they are usually interested in something producible that gives them a good return.

That was just my experience. We also have some PHDs that work on Research and Development or higher level management of proposals and business development.

In my opinion you should go back to school if you are interested in it, not because of the benefits it may provide you. If you change jobs a new company may look at you differently with a higher level degree though.

I am going to get my MS technical degree and then follow up with an MBA probably. It may or may not directly benefit me other than showing that I am interested in growing myself and learning new things, but I want to do it anyway. Also, I am trying to get my company to pay for tuition.

Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts and opinions on the matter. Good luck with your decision.

I definitely want to get a graduate degree one day. Although I could be happy with what I have right now, I feel like I could make a significant contribution to humanity's knowledge.

However to get there, I will either need an infusion of cash or a bursary. I do NOT want to get crippled by debt, especially not at 32. I might consider doing it part-time, but even that would require a lot of time and energy.

Long time ago I considered doing my Masters degree, but I laying down on the couch for a while made me feel better ;p

Seriously I did consider it, but realising it would take another 2 years to get the actual degree put me off the decision.  I wanted to get into the working market as soon as possible so I did.  I probably could've gotten something with a higher salary, but I'm not sorry for the road I've taken.

SoL@R : Then maybe it was not for you after all. Besides, most graduate students I know are into research or want to go into academia. And there are plenty of jobs that pay well and require, at most, a technical degree (mechanic, electrician).

Ultimatone : Technically I'm in an R&D position currently and work as some weird amalgamation of senior software engineer and architect, though most of the projects I work on are all pretty interesting I'm limited to use off-the-shelf libraries and then just improve frameworks / algorithms only when desperately required because of time constraints.

I'm in a bit of a weird position because of that. I'm only really motivated when I'm busy building something crazy and fun, but because of business requirements and our team being quite small I don't have as much freedom as I'd like to make amazing things purely because I'm normally needed elsewhere.

I fully understand how a business works, I just dislike the general attitude of it. We've had projects that were completed without much thought and are still being fixed into a workable state more than two years later because of this 'get things done fast, think later' attitude. Not one I've worked on, and in fact I still think they didn't put me on it because I'd call them out on it, but it still makes me laugh rather hard.

I'm likely a pretty good fit for academia in general - I'd rather spend a few months perfecting an algorithm to run faster than anyone else' than building some boring application for someone's business needs - but that's the point. I may as well not do a PHD and instead take my ideas, do my own research and start my own company, because in the long run it's simply a better use of time. 

To do a PHD part-time requires 4+ years of hard work to get it to a decent standard, and doing that with an exacting job will likely require me to give up large chunks of free time that I'd either spend socializing, relaxing, or working on little passion projects. On top of that I'd likely be locked into my current job for the duration as moving and basically saying 'sorry, only working part time' without prior examples of your competence is a pretty hard sell. On top of that you have no guarantee that at the end of it you'll have the chance to either get your ideas funded, or that you'll join a team that really enthuses you. Not to mention the previously-stated lack of real progress career-wise. You don't do a PHD for progression unless you genuinely want to go down that route as a job.

And to do it full-time requires a significant amount of money set aside, and three years out of the industry, while not total career suicide for me, is pretty bad from most peoples perspectives especially if what you did isn't generally used (highly likely).

These are obviously just my views, and if we have anyone here who has followed through on doing a PHD it would be great to find out about it, but at least for now I've had to default to the starting a new company option, but then that'll require a few years prep work while I do a load of other things. 

Short conclusion: 'I want to try and help the human race! Lol, no, go getta job that pays monies.'

Good luck on the masters degree too.

I have considered going back for my masters. Just always hard to find time to do so with a demanding work schedule and everything else that goes along with life. I've done some continuing education courses and things like that.

When I originally went to College I didn't feel like the extra time in school was going to help me right off the bat, so after I got my BS I decided to just enter the workforce. I didn't have parents or anyone that was helping me pay the bills...so you know how that goes. Maybe one of these days I will get serious and go back to get my Masters.

Jordanv78 : Most graduate students I know had a grant/research program during which they were making their studies. I guess it helps considering how expensive it is.

So if ever you have a genius idea, try to sell it