

I got offer for PhD in Cryptography – should I leave my Senior Developer role? - panjaro

I landed in a Senior Developer role in couple of months and there is a huge opportunity to lead the company&#x27;s development team within a year. Pay is good as well. 
However, yesterday I got an offer for PhD in cryptography. I&#x27;ve always wanted to do PhD but I&#x27;m not sure if this will be a bad decision. I&#x27;m already 30 years old and married. very confused. If I continue job, there&#x27;ll be financial security, I can buy house, have kids....on the other hand I feel I should go for PhD because I&#x27;ve always wanted to do it.
======
RollAHardSix
Ask for a leave of absence or to arrange a flexible work schedule while you
pursue the degree. All they can say is no.

Go for the degree. If you ended up with a Senior role then you have lots of
experience already, I assume. You'll ALWAYS be able to find another job. With
a PhD in Crypto, you'll be able to move towards a Crypto job, or teaching if
that floats your boat.

Side note: I am very jealous and a bit inspired. Former military and my
academic route is mangled with starting late and working full-time as a
developer, and so I'm hoping to complete a bachelors by 28 or 29 at my dismal
pace. The fact you 're looking at going back to school at 30 for a PhD makes
me feel like it will all work out one way or the other.

~~~
panjaro
Seems like I've got mates around the world sailing on same boat. I've got
almost 7 yrs of experience and yes I can always come back. My plan is not to
stop programming while I do PhD. I'll keep pushing small chunks of code to
GitHub once in a while. Best of luck mate !!!!

------
zxv
My advice is: consider doing what you would least like to go back for, years
from now.

Ten years from now, it may become difficult to choose a PhD. It may have far
less financial impact if one has developed deep industry experience. However,
even so, a PhD will still create wider opportunities for changes to other
markets and career tracks.

When your kids enter college, going back for a PhD may become unthinkable.

~~~
panjaro
yeah !!!

------
ashleyp
Go for the PhD. It's where your heart is. Otherwise you'll be more likely to
regret at least not trying, you'll always wonder what would have happened if
you did. You have plenty of dev experience if it goes wrong to go back into
another job. And you can always do it part time?

~~~
panjaro
That's what I was thinking. I don't want to live with regret. Thanks a lot
!!!!

------
honorious
Is it in a good school, and are you working with somebody who is publishing in
top conferences or journals? If not, then you won't get much out of your PhD.

Why did you always wanted to have a PhD? Do you want to work in research or
academia?

~~~
panjaro
It's ranked may be 250+ in world rankings. The professor is not a star but has
few publications. Has at least one publication in a year...some in IEEE some
in other journals.

I want to go to academia because working for companies and fixing their
immediate shits doesn't make sense to me. I can't do what should be done. Have
to always serve the boss. I want to be in a place where I learn and whatever I
publish be of some value. Not just another software or another web
application.

I think 10 years after. After 10 years , I don't want to be some manager/lead
of some X company working under some boss. I want to be an expert in some
field, distinguished and want to have my own identity not just X number of
experience is some company.

I want to do research, valuable work.

~~~
honorious
That's a very good goal. You clearly need a better managers and better
companies to work for. The research experience of the PhD might help, but it's
not the solution to all problems.

For a more pragmatic point of view, look at where your future professor's
students are. In a 250+ ranked school, the school name is not going to land
you a great job by default. You'll need to be working with a good professor.
Your summary of the publications of who you are working with doesn't seem
stellar, but without details on where he publishes I can't say much. How many
students does he have?

Do you have only that one offer or more?

~~~
panjaro
He has 5 students of which 3 have completed PhD, 1 is in progress and another
one is MS by Research.

This is the only offer I have.

~~~
honorious
My advice is to chat with previous and current students to get a feeling on
how it is to work with that professor. In this way, you get a view of their
experience.

Is the PhD in the US, Europe, or somewhere else?

As for government funded: you also get a monthly stipend, right? How long is
the PhD in your country?

~~~
panjaro
Not sure about the stipend. The PhD is typically 4 years.

~~~
jayd77
Why not go for a part-time Phd and continue working. Might be a hassle for 5
years but you get the financial security for your family and follow your
dream.

