The pay difference between working in industry and doing a PhD was a big factor for me to avoid getting a PhD a few years ago.
These days it still plays a role, though as an independent researcher I’d like to connect with more academics so that I can get better at doing research with more rigour and publish more papers. Avoiding the PhD has made this hard and I kind of have to have a lot more initiative to develop these skills that PhD students typically develop. That said, being able to selectively learn the skills that are actually useful for solving alignment is worth the tradeoff.
EDIT: Oh, and the lower level of prestige/credibility I have (from not doing a PhD) may get in the way of some of my plans so I’m trying to be creative about how to gain that prestige without having to do a PhD.
The pay difference between working in industry and doing a PhD was a big factor for me to avoid getting a PhD a few years ago.
These days it still plays a role, though as an independent researcher I’d like to connect with more academics so that I can get better at doing research with more rigour and publish more papers. Avoiding the PhD has made this hard and I kind of have to have a lot more initiative to develop these skills that PhD students typically develop. That said, being able to selectively learn the skills that are actually useful for solving alignment is worth the tradeoff.
EDIT: Oh, and the lower level of prestige/credibility I have (from not doing a PhD) may get in the way of some of my plans so I’m trying to be creative about how to gain that prestige without having to do a PhD.