<story><title>A Survival Guide to a PhD</title><url>http://karpathy.github.io/2016/09/07/phd/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>michaelvoz</author><text>&amp;quot;I’ll assume that the second option you are considering is joining a medium-large company (which is likely most common). Ask yourself if you find the following properties appealing: ...&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Why is every conversation about PHDs always cast in the light of as-opposed-to-working-for-the-man? I don&amp;#x27;t see discussions ever bring up the plethora of other life courses one can take. It is though the author sees a very clear binary: PHD or go work on fixing bugs in Gmail (or some other such cog-in-a-machine project).&lt;p&gt;Where is the discussion of starting a business? Of making your own company? Breaking free of the political shackles of academia and blazing your own path to glory?&lt;p&gt;I am all for PHDs, and all for people pursuing, and pushing, the boundaries of human knowledge. I would just like to see that discussion live on its own, without comparison, if that is possible.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwawaymsft</author><text>&amp;quot;Properties you find appealing...&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  * Freedom
  * Ownership
  * Personal freedom
  ...
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
&amp;lt;Later...&amp;gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  * Getting into a PhD program: references, references, references
  * Student adviser relationship
  * Pre-vs-post tenure
  * Impressing an adviser
  * (Topic) Plays to your adviser’s interests and strengths
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
Much of your freedom goes to learning to play politics and manage up to a level employees never have to. Reading this, I&amp;#x27;m so thankful I didn&amp;#x27;t enter academia. I still pursue my academic interests on my own.&lt;p&gt;Edit: A few people insist on casting a float into a bool. Every job has politics, ranging from 0.01% (anonymous author of 1-man SaaS) to 99% (politician). It&amp;#x27;s not very informative to note that both are non-zero.</text></comment>
<story><title>A Survival Guide to a PhD</title><url>http://karpathy.github.io/2016/09/07/phd/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>michaelvoz</author><text>&amp;quot;I’ll assume that the second option you are considering is joining a medium-large company (which is likely most common). Ask yourself if you find the following properties appealing: ...&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Why is every conversation about PHDs always cast in the light of as-opposed-to-working-for-the-man? I don&amp;#x27;t see discussions ever bring up the plethora of other life courses one can take. It is though the author sees a very clear binary: PHD or go work on fixing bugs in Gmail (or some other such cog-in-a-machine project).&lt;p&gt;Where is the discussion of starting a business? Of making your own company? Breaking free of the political shackles of academia and blazing your own path to glory?&lt;p&gt;I am all for PHDs, and all for people pursuing, and pushing, the boundaries of human knowledge. I would just like to see that discussion live on its own, without comparison, if that is possible.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>JoshTriplett</author><text>Agreed completely.  I did a PhD knowing that I had zero interest in going into academia, and it provided a major boost to my professional career.  I find it surprising when people talk about doing a PhD as &lt;i&gt;exclusively&lt;/i&gt; useful for academics.</text></comment>