Re: Career Question: Self Study vs MS w/Thesis vs PhD

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Sam Banerjee) wrote in message 
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Hello everybody,
> 
> I am a programmer working in the commercial world, and I would like to
> get into AI, preferably a position that amounts some amount of
> research/creativity. I have never done AI related work before, so I am
> considering the following options to make me more palatable to
> employers. I am targeting industry and government, not a professorship
> in academia.
> 
> 1) read up on ai on my own
> 
> 2) do an MS with thesis at a local college. The advantage of this over
> a Phd is that I can keep my current job and do it in the evening
> 
> 3) go in for a full time PhD. I would enjoy the opportunity to do a
> full blown research project, but there is the cost factor of chucking
> in my job for 6 years
>  
> I would like to know what people think of these options. Any comments
> would be welcome,

It depends where you want to work. If you want to do research
at an egg-head think tank, you'll be working for an egg-head
Ph.D. This could be in industry or government, so your criteria 
need to be more specific.

Investigate prospective employers to see how much relative autonomy
they give their MSs and PhDs.

Hope this helps,

Greg

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