Mid-Career Doctorate?

On  professional society forum a member recently posted,
“I am a 40+ security professional wondering whether it is worth it pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Information Security. I graduated with a Masters degree in information security a couple of years ago, and since then, I can not seem to find a job that matches with my qualifications. Even the additional certifications do not seem to help …

I know it is a very costly venture, but is it worth the dare just for job satisfaction ?”

 

This prompted me to reply based on my own experience.

To set the stage for this reply: I started a doctorate in Information Assurance at age 61, while working full time, with a goal of completing before 65. I made it by 11 months. By the time I earned it, the degree name had changed to Cybersecurity. I am very happy I earned it as a personal goal and accomplishment. And my wife thinks my title is cool!

First, to answer the question, “is it worth the dare just for job satisfaction ?” No, not at all worth it for job satisfaction. However, it may well be worth it for personal satisfaction, or other reasons.

I recommend you answer some questions for yourself, and consider a few things I throw in below.

Why do you want the degree? Unless your current employer has an incentive for you to move up to that degree, there is close to no job benefit of getting the degree. You might get your resume looked t with a PhD on it, but you will not get a job because of it; they will still look at your skills and accomplishments in the field for the hiring decision.

Do you want to teach at the college level? For adjunct appointment, the MS is fine. However, if you want to go for full-time and possible tenure track, then yes, get the doctorate.

There are other legitimate reasons for getting a doctorate: personal accomplishment, score keeping, prestige of the title, even as a personal merit badge.

Understand clearly that a doctorate is not a “deeper knowledge” degree per se. Rather it is all about learning to do and proving you have and can do research. I have talked to a few who think it is like a masters but with more heavy duty course work. Nope, not at all. If you really want to get into funded cybersec research, then yes, the doctorate is a good thing. 

If you want to learn more about the various ares of our field, a plan for more masters degrees and other certifications, like SANS, is better.

Next, are you considering school while working full time, as I did, or as a full time grad student? If you go full time at a research university, you will be diving deep, with  lot to learn and also have to be “free” labor for one or more professors on their grant funded research programs. If you go into a program aimed at working adults, your experience will be much more limited, and may not have the money for extensive tech capabilities for the research. On a research university you will likely be a contributing author in several published papers before allowed to publish your personal stand-alone dissertation. If you are in a working adult program, your dissertation may well be your only publication, and be limited by funds.

So, to summarize: why do you want the degree, and what do you expect to do to earn it, and then use it afterward.