PhD gives you a Dr. title yes. But in universities, you need to have at least a PhD to earn proffesor-ship and in my field, you have to be doing alot alot of research to win (if possible) a Nobel Prize. So a PhD is where you start. You have to start somewhere, so go for the PhD and work your way up. And if you are good AND lucky, you may get that super super long title.

@Mavik: Gametester that horrible? Ok... suddenly don feel so good anymore. Cos my friend gametester in Japan for 2 years and he said very fun wor... but now he quit dee and doing computer graphic something... so I always thought gametester very cool.

these days experience counts more than the certs..especially in the IT field..there are alot of peoples these days who have certs..but when the join the job..they do not know how to do the job

how good your results is 1 case.
how successful you are is one case.
it depends how you apply things u've learned in the future.
if u're a boss u wanna hire some1(without PHD) that can work hard n earn profit for ur company.
or someone(with PHD) that thinks that he can goyang kaki there and receive high salary every month?

When Google hires PhDs, I very much doublt that they just sit there, goyang kaki and receive high salary every month. It all depends a lot on the job requirements, and if the work involved requires a PhD or not.

i do not mean all PHD ley....hehe
some1 mentioned get PHD then go play golf and get paid loh.
I mean that.

It depends how long your PhD will be and what other benefits is there. Say for example, your PhD is in UK and then maybe the course that you do get you enough points to get a PR there, so why not? It really depends on many other factor, dude.

I think the "Associate Professor" and "Professor" title is only given by universities right?
So if u had your PhD and dun work in universities, u dont get the title right?
It is some kind of "pangkat" if I'm not wrong..

Degree--> Masters--> PhD (where u get the Dr. title)--> Assoc. Prof--> Prof.

Am I right here?