Here is my two bits

Do a PhD if you want to do research.

Do a PhD only if you are fully funded. Do not do a PhD if you are not funded and have to pay out of pocket. If you have partial funding it up to you do decide. Yes, PhD programs provide training and education but labs run on PhD students. So, you don't want to pay for the "honor" of being a lab worker. You want to be paid. All you ideas belong to the lab and university.

Most jobs in a company do not require skills in research. The technology is known, you just use it. You are not required to develop new technology or make new discoveries. At most you will take a new technology and mass produce it. Or make a known technology 1% more efficient. Experience is more important in a company.

PhD is one of those experiences that will tell you who you truly are. You learn something about yourself, how you handle constant pressure, failure, anger, success, fear, anxiety and friendly type competition and night of the long knives type competition. It can become a bit much. Remember, you can reach out for help. Your PI is there. If not, your advisor, if not the program coordinator, if not university counselor. Do not let your project fall behind. Part of the learning process is project management ie learning to recognize that your Titanic has or is in danger of hitting an iceberg and you need help now. Do not cover up mistakes. Do not lie. Do not commit suicide (yes, suicide does happen).


PhD are hard. Mentally and physically. Do a PhD when you are young. Once you are 40+ forget it. You don't have the energy to do it anymore. It is like joining the army. Once you are 40+, you simply cannot keep up with an 18 or 20 year old.


You can change project, you can change advisor, but you must complete the program. Failure rate for a PhD program is about 30% nationwide in the UK. But if you must fail a Phd program, try to fail within the first year.

PhD is not for everyone. You must like being wrong 99% of the time. Confused 30% of the time. You can be both wrong and confused. Conditions not mutually exclusive. This is a state that has caused people to quit a PhD. Love repeats. Love tweaking stuff.


PhD does translate into more money. But those jobs are in developed nations. However PhD will help you get those jobs if PhD comes from well known university. Unfortunately you are not the only person in your program, so you have competition. So your PhD project is important. It can literally make you a world expert, possibly THE WORLD expert in sub field X. If you are very good, you would have picked a PhD in a sub-field that is of interest to companies (or governments). Picking a good PhD project is like picking good stock. Some of it is understanding what companies want, and some of it is luck.