Options for a PHD holder in comp science

[Saliya Jinadasa]

Hi,
Apart from teaching, what are the options available for a computer science PHD holder in the industry?
Saliya

[Mark Herschberg]

At least in the US, quite a few. It depends a bit on your area of expertise. Certainly major corporations (IBM, Intel, Microsoft, etc) all have R&D centers and hire PhDs. My friend just got his PhD from MIT and is starting a job at TI.
Alternatively, you could join a small and/or startup company. Google's competitive advantage comes from the work of it's PhD's. ITA (which provides the software for Orbitz) also used to employ many PhDs. Akamai was based on the PhD thesis of Danny Lewin. The tricky part is finding a smaller company in your area, but if you network well and put the word out, you can find opportunities.
--Mark

[Billy Tsai]

what about phDs in information system?

[HS Thomas]

In the UK worked with a couple of PHds recently.
They were good coders. Unless teaching, a PHd isn't valued that much, IMHO. But it will be valued if doing research within an IT company like IBM, Dell, M$ etc.
[ December 29, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[shankar vembu]

Originally posted by Billy Tsai:
what about phDs in information system?

billy,
what is a phd in information system(IS)? What kind of topics/areas do they specialise in? AFAIK, PhD is like you choose an area of interest from electrical , computer, physics, math whatver and go deep in that area. And of course there are inter-disciplinary approaches also.... So what is actually a PhD in IS. How is it different from a PhD in CS becos eventually you are going to choose a single area and when it narrows down to a single topic/area, why the distinction between CS and IS?
Regards.

[shay Aluko]

Originally posted by Saliya Jinadasa:
Hi,
Apart from teaching, what are the options available for a computer science PHD holder in the industry?
Saliya

Have you thought of management consulting, a lot of the high-end consultancies like booz, bcg , Mckinsey etc employ PHDs, also you could consider a career in Investment research as a "quant"

[HS Thomas]

I wouldn't think a CS PHD would be a natural choice for management consulting. If it happens it is the exception rather than the rule.

[Billy Tsai]

phD in IS is graduated from the commerce department, its like MSIS degree , phD in compsci is graduated from the science department.

[shay Aluko]

Originally posted by HS Thomas:
I wouldn't think a CS PHD would be a natural choice for management consulting. If it happens it is the exception rather than the rule.

I think you got it quite wrong, a lot of management consultancies employ, MS , PHDs and MDs. You can check right on the Mckinsey website- a significant proportion of their annual intake is PHDs and Ms etc. The key attribute needed as a management consultant is analytical ability and superior intelligence and sound reasoning which a lot of PHds may have.

[Tim Holloway]

Allegedly the world's first doctorate in Computer science was awarded to Stan Kelley-Bootle. But he's had a devil of a time with it

[HS Thomas]

Originally posted by Tim Holloway:
Allegedly the world's first doctorate in Computer science was awarded to Stan Kelley-Bootle. But he's had a devil of a time with it

I take back everything I said about CS PHDs.
Of the two PHDs I remember working with , one worked quite closely with project management. The other one was an immigrant and treated more like a coder but who subsequently went on to work with very innovative tech at the time - InfoBus.

[HS Thomas]

Now, would working on an open source project lead to a PHD ?
i.e what are the chances of it being recognised towards a PHD if the contributer has the other qualifications like an MSc.
[ January 03, 2004: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[Matt Cao]

Originally posted by Kevin Thompson:
None.
I have never in my entire life seen a job posting or job description for IT work that said "PHD" wanted or required.
In order to find work, you will have to take your degree off your resume.
For the diseased minds in the HR department, it is a sign that says "He costs too much".
Kevin Thompson

Hi Kevin,
This is a wrong way to use your PhD. Assuming that you have it. Most PhD I know of are having research lab/teaching in the univ or published books of their field interests/articles at least. If someone have interest in your unique logic/approach, he/she will find you and offer you a job in his/her R&D team of his/her company.
Regards,
MCao

[Mark Herschberg]

Originally posted by Kevin Thompson:
None.
I have never in my entire life seen a job posting or job description for IT work that said "PHD" wanted or required.

...and I've never seen a job posting which reads, "kitchen experience wanted." I'm sure they exist, I just don't see them because I don't look for them. Plenty of jobs require PhDs, just not most of the generic programmer jobs that many people on this list apply for.
--Mark

[Billy Tsai]

The CEO of my company is a phD in computer science from CMU, he was an professor in a university then become the Head of department of the computer science department.
the situation of my company is good right now because it is expanding and hiring lots of different ppl from various field like in finance, administration, programmers and sales.