Do not get a Ph.D.!
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this is someone else’s crusade, not mine. my position is pretty much the same, there is only one reason to get a ph.d. and it has nothing to do with future employment. a ph.d. is closer to a possession, and not even a qualification, unless you want to be a certain type of professor (and you’ll want to find out what that job really is because it is not happy-go-lucky reading and teaching as many students tend to think). The sole reason to get a ph.d. is to have one because you can’t imagine your life otherwise. it is something you accomplish, it won’t get you a job in any necessary way, all you get necessarily from a ph.d. is the experience and the ph.d., both of which are interesting commodities, but not universally valued..
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These are wise words. I am coming to terms with completing my phd after 5 yrs of part time study and realizing I have attained something mostly only of value to me as a personal accomplishment and as a kind of life milestone or talisman. Others seem to regard it as somewhat impressive, but outside the university environment it might seem a little weird for a middle aged guy to suddenly attain a Dr title, that nobody ever uses much in practice anyway.
But I did it because I had to.