₦airaland Forum

photoshop...

topmostg: oboy why your packs dey too bend like dis?

Guy, i am igbo and i agree with many of your points.. Some i dont agree with..

How can ibos say they want power when they cant even provide a candidate? Two brothers are ready to kill each other over local government councillorship... When you are not united, you cant produce one candidate..

When you cant produce one candidate, you cant gather enough votes to win..

You want to rule the whole country but your states are the most underdeveloped states in the country while your governors are the most corrupt in the whole country..

Abeg ibo's need to focus on ruling themselves before they rule someone else..

They can probably field a Fashola (Pres)/Ezekwesili(Vice) ticket and beat Jonathan..

Buhari just needs to go and rest somewhere.. We dont need another Yaradua on our hands..

People are probably going to call me a sellout and abuse me.. But tribe aside, its the truth.. Ibos are not united and dont do anything for each other when they get in power in their own states, why trust them with a whole nation?

peckhamboi: Igbos are really a pitiable lot, it is obvious they don't have what it takes to rule the country, obviuosly from the state of underdevelopment and insecurity in biafra, coupled with inability of igbos to build a meaningful party of opposition right from independence that igbos have no agenda except that of grabbing power.

they hobnob and play political prostitute with who ever is in power, because they have no vision either for their region or the nation, that was y zik joined NPC, and all of a sudden the vision of NCNC a party founded by a yoruba man who made zik his secretary was taken over by igbos and destroyed with the usual igbo leadership visionlesness, selfishness and greed. thank God yorubas abandoned NCNC for them cos that was the end of igbo voice on the national political scene...igbos cant build a real party..

u can see that the igbos dont mean well for nigeria, that is why they want to support this failure called pdp and jonathan that has no direction just because they hope after jonathan they will be allowed to rule.

am not suprised zik and ekweme did the same thing, and joined with a party that had no vision whilst yorubas remained in opposition, after they will start crying marginalization

igbos have the worst leaders in the world, can you see this mumu, saying they will support jonathan so that jonathan will support them in 2019, even if jonathan wins in 2015 doesnt he know that power will go to the north in 2019 and will remain their for atleast another 8 years?

you see how igbo leaders right from zik, ojukwu, ekweme etc always lead igbos to military and political defeat and confusion,

igbos are not ready to rule ... the one that i was even thinking was different ie rochas has showed himself a typical igboman with trader mentality, and mindless grab for power,,. even before he was inaugurated as gorvnor, he wrote to all banks freezing to freeze imo state account and had to be warned by inec that he yet to be inaugurated as gorvnor after election, he keeps fighting and showing his power all over the place, the last time it was with senator anyanwu,

just behaving like a typical igboman that sees money and position as a means to lord it over others... fashola does not use siren, he stays in hold up no matter how serious like other lagosians. awo never stayed in govt apartment or take govt benefit, he always said what he cant enjoy at the level of his personal wealth he wont accept in public office

igbos cant rule, they dont know the purpose of politics or power, that is why they dont understand the beauty of opposition politics, they have never been in power yet they have never been in opposition, always begging complaining and whining,

the opposition may one day win power, or have a strong bargaining power, like when the nation was forced to vote for yoruba men in 1999, but when you play political protsitute like igbos, [people always use and dump u.

igbos are really pathetic, confused and primitive polticaly

STORY! STORY!!

Everything i have said, i have backed with facts.. You on the other hand have ignored everything i have said and you keep trying to force education on everyone..

I have never underestimated the importance of education, the society does need phd's.. Phd's who are in it for the right reasons not money..

You keep drumming the phd ticket on everyone like it is the key to financial success.. it is not.. People should go into a phd for the right reasons, to make a difference..

I dont know if you just chose to ignore everything i have been saying.. I admire phd's, i have two in my immediate family.. My wife is a doctor and is working on her cardiology fellowship.. i have a masters in engineering and i am looking at getting an mba..

So dont sit there and tell me i dont value education..

My whole point to the original poster is that he shouldnt think about just money.. He shouldnt go into a phd just for money.. He should go into it because he wants to make a difference in his field.. Money shouldnt be his motivation..

Contrary to what you think about it, my main motivation is not money.. I want to make a difference in my country when i move back home but the level of corruption scares me.. I am trying to get the original poster to not go for a phd for money..

I guess we can agree to disagree.. Good luck

drzed: obi2012, I would like to think that you are at least 21 years old. Although age is not directly proportional to maturity.

I cant help notice that rather than face the core issues at hand (with facts), you always find a way to discredit or tarnish my comments/opinions based on your prejudice and/or ignorance. For example, you are implying that I am a lecturer at LASU who sells tests/handouts. And indirectly, you are implying that LASU is such a downtrodden place that habours hungry PhD holders who scheme money from students by selling test questions. You are indeed pathetic. Without lecturers, you would not be where you are today.

In any case, you are wrong on all accounts. For starters, I am not even based in Nigeria. But even if I were, and I were to be in academics, and I were to be posted at LASU, well, I would do my 'LASU job' with pride. See, not everyone is hungry or money-crazy like yourself (it may be surprising and even annoying for you to learn this, but it is very true). Speaking of money, you have no idea how much I earn or what I do for a living. Continue dreaming that you are 'wealthier' than everyone else who has a PhD.

Clearly, you do not value education or research and you proved it yourself so many times above. You confuse going to school with education. Just as you confuse repairing broken down networks with research.

I suggest you (and others who may be inclined to think like you) should watch this recent youtube video clip by Dr. Benjamin Carson. One of the brightest minds in contemporary America. He is a high-achieving and highly decorated neurosurgeon. A black man that I am very proud of.

Pay attention to what he says about importance and role of education for a country's progress.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFb6NU1giRA

Enjoy whatever remains of your weekend.

Lol, I will. Right after you go and sell tests to your Lasu students to pay rent

drzed: Behind every practical issue, is a solid scientific fact and explanation. But how would you know?
Oh, sorry, you are theoretically-challenged. Go and troubleshoot windows abeg!

Sorry, I don't deal in theories, I deal in practical.. Keep with your yabatech abi na lasu theories, let other people keep growing your economy and doing stuff with themselves..

drzed: @obi2012:
I dont know why this PhD thing dey pain you so much that you despise it and people who aim for it. But you proved it above that your brain cannot handle advanced theories. Maybe thats why.

All these 'I oversee 13 PhD holders in my department' and 'Texas University' and 'my CISCO colleagues earning 120K per annum' doesnt fool me one bit. Scan your degree with your passport photo attached, let us confirm that you went to Texas, YabaTech or wherever. I have never mentioned the schools I have attended because it is not about me, my qualifications or my ego. It is about the issue at hand (PhD) and its worth.

In summary, anyone who reads what you have been writing since yesterday can deduce the following:

(1) You dont know what PhD is all about (what the degree entails and what you can do with it)
(2) You are incapable of grasping advanced theories, which means you cant do research (i.e. why you hate PhD)
(3) You think the goal of the human race or any society is to make money (hint: try Okija shrine)
(4) You have inferiority complex, relative to PhD holders (get over it)
(4) You make dumb and stewpid assumptions about things (e.g. PhD degree, need for education, human development) and about people (e.g. myself, PhD holders) which you know very little about.

You dont know jack about me. Stop assuming and making it personal.

Arguing with you is waste of time. Go and make money. Obingote!

LOL.. see stupidity.. again, where in the Google facts about management did they say Larry Page completed a phd? You claim to have a phd yet you lack reading comprehension.. It said he founded google while pursuing his phd, he dropped out and did not complete his degree.. He is not a phd holder.. Common sense

You are relying on official google documentation, yet you can reason simple english from their documentation..

I oversee 13 phd holders in my department..

Lol, wetin concern me concern money? The OP said he wanted money as part of his Phd package, thats my reasoning for bringing money into it..

You failed to mention how much you earn as a big time phd holder, you failed to mention what your phd specialization is in.. As usual, avoiding the question.. Sorry, you cant afford to send me credit Mr. Phd, my billables per hour is not calculated in naira.. LOL

You said phd's run organizations, yet you pointed to one person in multiple organizations (Eric Schmidt)

No one said nigeria should be all about money but if you have common sense, you would read that the topic said "financially".. LOL, well good to hear troubleshooting networks is beneath you.. Would have been nice for you though, at least you wouldn't be living in face me i face you in yaba? I'll be sure to pass the information on to my cisco buddies though that their $120k a year job is beneath a LASU lecturer..

LOL, University of Texas (Ranked 23 in the world) is behind technologically, i wonder where that puts the school you went to in nigeria..

drzed: Kai, see mumu-rism at its peak! I am relying on official Google documentation for Larry Page's PhD claims, while you are quoting a blog? So the blog is more authoritative than Google, abi? FAIL! https://www.google.com/about/company/facts/management/

Is your brain running Windows 95?



I believe that I have demonstrated with clear examples, the vast array of jobs available to PhD holders: from executive level, to management level, down to software and engineering jobs using Google as a focus/case study. This was to counter your dumb argument that PhD is good for teaching and research (only).



I know you will fall back to money, money, money. Like I said, success and progress of a society is not all about money. And wetin consyn you with my salary? Make I send you credit ne, abi wetin? If na money you want, carry gun and stand for Express road nah? Why you go school



Fail! We are not nearly as educated as we need to be. Dont confuse the preponderance of Federal, state and private university with education. Quality before quantity. Most of our graduates are half baked. You said it (and proved it) yourself down below. And PLEASE our goal as a society is not to make money. It is to make progress and develop. Some of us can and will make money in the process.



Ehn, we don hear. Mr millionaire.



Okay, we get it and we sympathize with you in the sense that: (a) your are not able to grasp advanced theoretical concepts like your Indian and Chinese contemporaries; (b)Your school is primitive in IT; (c) your professors are using stoneage curriculum. But lets stick to the core issue: how is that the fault of PhD as a whole? Are you sure you are not half-baked?



At least I am not half-baked. And I am not trouble-shooting CISCO networks. Thats beneath me. If only you knew.



How on earth would YOU of all people know WHAT motivates people to get PhDs? and how many PhD holders do you employ? Mr employer!



Okay, from your angle, education is not to be used to make a living, abi? We should all go to school and get degrees just because we dont have something to do with our time abi? You are a deluded person who does not understand how a modern society works! Listen to yourself!! Please stop posting on Nairaland. Some innocent, naive kids may take you seriously and think that education is not meant to make a living. Are you a member of Boko Haraam? Just asking o, because your words sound awfully similar to what those guys are aiming for.



Life is much more than money. When I spoke about people (Nigerians) who just want to 'hammer', I was talking about people like you, apparently. If Nigerians dont value PhD, does that make the degree a useless endeavour? We are backwards in terms of development because too many of us in Nigeria think like you.

You should be banned in Nairaland for spreading and encouraging ignorance.

again, you are posting all the jobs that are software jobs which are tech related and max out at $130k or so.. what is top of food chain in $130k? A CCNP with 10 years of experience is probably a CIO or higher earning $350k or more..

MBA's first years from top 30 schools average $200k or more in investment banking, consulting, fortune 500 rotational programs, tech management and product management. How is phd top of the food chain?


LOL at microsoft paying their phd candidates more than people with 10 years of experience.. Keep googling away your internet credit while people that have actually worked with these companies talk...

You posted one person in google management with a phd.. Larry Page and Sergey Brin attempted phd's and dropped out because they knew better than to think a phd is the way to make money..

drzed: In the light of overwhelming evidence of PhD jobs in computing as shown above, can you now see how dumb your above statement sounds for the whole world to see on Nairaland? So PhD holders in computers science can only work for wall street and have to combine their programming skills with juju isnt it? Oya go and tell Microsoft to delete those thousands of PhD vacancies. And since according to the Gospel of Obi2012, PhD holders wont get into management, then lets start a campaign so that Google and others will sack their current management staff who have PhDs. Mtcheew!!!!

So Mr (or Mazi) Obi2012, every level of education has its rightful place and whether you agree or not, a PhD is at the top of the knowledge food chain....unless of course your skewed way of thinking tells you that Microsoft and Google will pay PhD holders the same salary as people who have CCNP certificate plus 10 years experience. Tufia!

Little knowledge is dangerous (Dr Alban, 1992)

LOL.. you emphasize the need of people using their search properly..

Anyone knowledgeable would know that Larry Page never earned his Phd.. So when you finish preaching about using search, u sef use search yourself..

http://sparks.wisdomjobs.com/20-sergey-brin-and-larry-page.html

Of all the jobs you posted that were looking for phd's, not one of them was a management job like you claimed.. They were all engineering jobs not management. Rarely do engineers make it out of engineering into management. Dont tell me about my field.. I have worked and currently work here.. Of all the board members you posted, less than 20 percent of what you posted is made up of Phd's.. Most of the boards are made up of mba's.. there is a comparable of amount of bachelors degree holders on your boards to the amount of phd's.. Does that mean everyone should stop at a bachelors since its automatically the road to success?

I dont understand why you keep mentioning masters and mentioning me in it.. I have a masters, i have never said anything negative about earning a masters.. The only cert i have is a PMP and it is not vendor specific.. Its a project management cert. My problem and my stance in this post has always been against the phd and not against a phd in general but against a phd in the original posters case..

Any objective person will tell you that every degree makes sense depending on the persons goals and the person in question. A phd might make sense for someone who genuinely loves a field and wants to make a difference in it.. It isnt a degree for someone who just wants to make money.. Phd isnt the ticket to money.. In the end, its just a degree

You can have a phd and be a failure in life, you can have a bachelors or even no degree and be a success.. If phd's were the ticket to prosperity, how many nigerian leaders have phd's? How many are educated? How are the less educated managing to rule the so called educated phd's while they sit back and watch?

You have a phd right? Which kind of phd are you? How many company boards are you on? How much are you making?

It is this mentality that always puts nigerians behind everyone else.. We are overeducated as a society and underemployed.. If your goal is to make money, figure out a way to make money.. If you are genuinely interested in a field and see yourself long term in a field and feel a phd is the edge you need to get ahead, go for it and if you are good at what you do, money will come with it.

A man that picks up trash can be a multimillionaire, a toilet cleaner can be a multimillionaire if he comes up with a great plan and is very good at it, over education such as a phd is not the key to success..

You will never get rich working for someone else legally, you can be comfortable unless you start doing illegal things.. Again, it also depends on your definition of rich.. Who studies a phd IT security in nigeria? 95% of the IT professors in nigeria have never even see a multi-OS or multi vendor networking environment, how am i supposed to do cutting edge research with outdated equipment?

How will i learn advanced security concepts where most things are theoretical, where my professor hasnt heard of pico, emacs, vi or cant even use basic unix functions like ls -l or grep? How am i supposed to learn vulnerability testing when my school network is still on dialup and the IT department is entitled to one server running windows 2000 server? How am i supposed to perform any penetration testing when the network wont even stay up long enough for me to telnet into a different server? How am i supposed to learn anything when the internet is so slow that i cant even login to the server through a remote session because the connection keeps timing out?

Oga, please you sound like one of those people that got a phd because they wanted doctor next to their name and couldn't get accepted into UNILAG for medicine so they decided to compensate by getting a phd in zoology or something..

People dont get phd's for money, they get phd's because they love the material and are genuinely interested in it.. All a phd prepares you for is to become an employee for someone else..

People need to stop using education as a means to earn a living.. Be open minded, explore other options..

How much is a phd earning in nigeria even after all their education? If you are lucky, you might hit N500k a month, highest N1 mill a month.. Is that money? Pleeeassseee..

drzed: My guy, you funny no be small o! Let me try and respond to the key issues you raised in your long, but meaningless and misguided post.



Who is spreading misinformation. Don’t sit in your face-me-I-face-you shop with a laptop loaded with Airtel credit and be spreading ignorance. Teaching and research is only ONE among many things you can do with a PhD. Clearly you have no idea the kind of jobs that are waiting for PhD holders in companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft. But by the end of this post, you will know better. For now, let me just tempt you with just one link to exclusive PhD jobs @ Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft-careers.com/key/microsoft-phd-jobs.html (accessed 09 Feb 2013) There are about 4,349 PhD level jobs advertised on by Microsoft as at time of writing.



Yes they will hire and they do hire. I am not talking about the sort of backwater IT firms you probably rub shoulders with in Nigeria. Check the real world and see how many firms hire PhD holders (see more examples much further below).

And who told you PhD holders dont have any real-world experience? It is moronic, nay, imbecilic to conclude that people with PhDs have only being reading books all their lives. People like you not only suffer from stereo-typing PhD, you actually dont know what PhD is all about. Afterall, in your own words, PhD is good for teaching and research (you could have added 'only' at the end of that sentence to complete your ignorant assessment).

What their superior (PhD) knowledge and skill will give them, your 12 years of trouble-shooting networks will not give you. Your certification in the long run is just for routine day-to-day work. Jaki work. You are handicapped when it comes to deep-rooted thinking and original research which will pave the way. In fact, PhD is such a unique degree that even Google hires FRESH PhD graduates in software engineering, regardless of whether they have 10 years experience and 17 CISCO certifications (see down below).

Most patented technology that is at the core of Google, Microsoft, Apple and Samsung technologies were designed by PhD holders. Fact. Siddon dia wit ya CISCO certifications. Relative to your civil servant friends, I am sure your CV looks damn good.



You are not exactly very smart are you? I said PEOPLE who ‘run things’. I am not referring to the sole heads, owners, founders or CEOs only. Are you sure these companies dont have 'one' PhD on their boards? ARE YOU VERY SURE? Your children and grandchildren will read this post in future o! Anyway, see evidence and example from Google below.



Heow. Chineke mei! Your propensity for ignorance is flabberwhelming and overgasting. There are 6 members of Google’s Executive and the THREE top members each has a PhD (or the PhD is ongoing). As for those that don’t have PhDs, check their designations: they are marketers, legal people or songitos who make noises around). See their names and refer to the link below.

GOOGLE'S EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
(1) Larry Page (Chief Executive Officer) - Ph.D. at Stanford University
(2) Eric E. Schmidt (Executive Chairman) - Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley
(3) Sergey Brin (Co-Founder) - currently on leave from the Ph.D. programme in Computer Science at Stanford University
(4) Nikesh Arora (Senior VP and Chief Business Officer) - MBA from Northeastern University
(5) David C. Drummond (Senior VP, and Chief Legal Officer) - Bachelor’s degree, Santa Clara University
(6) Patrick Pichette (Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer) - Master’s in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford

Source: http://www.google.co.uk/about/company/facts/management/

Also the top two members of Google’s Senior Leadership have PhDs
(1) Alan Eustace (Senior Vice President, Knowledge) Ph.D. in computer science, University of Central Florida
(2) Amit Singhal (Senior vice president) PhD in computer science, Cornell University

Infact, PhD degree is sooooo VERY important that Google actually created a unique website to attract people with PhDs, who can think and come up with new ideas. See the link below:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/students/tech/phd/ (accessed 09 Feb. 2013)

Available opportunities
• Software Developer, PhD New Grad 2013 - Montreal
• Software Engineer, PhD New Grad 2013 - North America
• Software Engineer, PhD New Grad - Europe
• Software Engineering Intern, PhD, Summer 2013 - North America

WARNING: don’t apply for the above positions with your CNSP certification because you will not be shortlisted, but instead you will be blacklisted for not reading instructions for applicants. This will negatively affect your future chance of being hired by Google Nigeria, as a multi-purpose network/router checker and errand boy

So my dear obi2012, you now see why proper research is good isn’t it? Someone reading your post will look at only the CEOs and conclude that people that run these companies don’t have PhDs.

Continue with your CNSPSP certification for the rest of your life. One day, Google will invite you to come and head their Lagos Office because you have 13 certificates from CISCO and 7 from Microsoft, abi?

Again, let me be clear: your certificates will help you stay employed and win some consulting jobs in your early career. But remember this: A very good Masters degree will last longer and carry your career further in the long run than 15 CISCO, JAVA and Microsoft certificates put together. Ask yourself this question every morning: "Am I going to continue writing software or trouble shooting networks all my life?" If the answer is no, then think ahead and when I say ahead, I mean like 20 years down the line, when your mates start becoming Directors and so on.

PS: I have not even bothered to dig deeper and show you other middle management staff of Google. Plenty of them have PhDs. Anyone who cares can review other global IT and Engineering companies and investigate those behind the scenes, helping to make top decisions not only at executive level, but on the technical side too. See examples:

Microsoft board:
Dr. Maria M. Klawe
Dr. Helmut Panke

Apple board
Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D.
Ronald D. Sugar, Ph.D

NOTE: this ‘argument’ about PhDs is not only about IT industry. It applies to most science, medical and engineering professions. And when I say 'run things' it is not only for director/management level jobs. As you can see from the Google link above, software engineers with PhD degrees are currently in demand. And this is just Google only. You will find the same demand in other IT firms.

Most of those PhD jobs in IT as advertised by Google end up going to Indians and Chinese, because Nigerians (like you, obi2012) are busy sweeping cobwebs from LAN networks and trouble-shooting routers.

Please, carry your CISCO certificate and apply to Google for these jobs now? You can argue with the selection panel that your CNNSP (or whatever) gives you the same skill sets as a PhD holder and you deserve the same salary. Mtcheeww! You are pathetic.

Agreed that in some professions, e.g. Journalism, if you want to be the editor of say, Vanguard Newspaper for example, you may not need a PhD. Just toil away, writing stories about MEND and Boko Haram terrorist and in 20 – 25 years, you will luckily be promoted to the editor position (if your tribe and religion fits into the quota, that is).

I frankly don’t know why I am even wasting my time going back and forth with someone like you who cannot even carry out ordinary google search about the management and employees of global firms.

No wonder people like you despise research and PhDs. And yet you want Nigeria to be technologically advanced. How? This can only happen when we respect research and development. Why didnt we build and launch the satellites (like Nigcomsat) ourselves? Clue: we dont have the right quality and quantity of engineers to do so. Indians, Chinese, Malaysians, South Africans, Iranians, Brazilians and Egyptians are FAR ahead of us in this regard. Meanwhile, our own software and hardware engineers are busy obtaining CISCO certificates so that they can 'hammer' and drive Honda EODs.

Little knowledge is dangerous (Dr Alban, 1992)

Guy, please stop spreading misinformation.. A phd is good for research and for teaching.. IT is one of the few fields where a phd is not as valued as experience.. IT security is a developing field that values experience over textbook knowledge.. Most government accounts and contracts as well as big companies require certs as a pre-req to even consider you for a job..

Certs like the CCIE and CCNP.. Not only teach you to design a network, build and maintain it. Once you are familiar with the terminology and inner workings of a specific router, switch or device and networking concepts, its pretty easy to adapt it to whatever brand you are forced to work it by looking up the manual.. CCIE's and CCNP's design networks from the ground up not just troubleshoot.

Do you really think a company will hire a phd with no real world experience whose topic of research was penetration testing over a bachelors degree, ccie with real world experience? Dude, book knowledge only counts for so much.. It definitely isn't real valuable in the IT field.

You dont get a phd to get into management.. You get real world experience and/or an MBA to get into management..

You mentioned phd's running stuff at google, apple, microsoft, shell..

If you were familiar with tech companies you'd know that:

Google highly values programmers, next to c level management, programmers are the best paid in the company and they are the companies prized possession.. you dont need a phd to code in java, C#, C++, perl, vbscript or matlab. You have a stellar undergraduate degree from a high ranked school, maybe a masters and are a good programmer, then you'll get hired as a programmer.
For management, you'd have to have an mba or be promoted from within. Rarely do programmers get promoted to management because they are more valuable as programmers.

Apple hires good engineers as engineers preferably from top name schools, again you hardly get promoted from engineering to management.

Microsoft and facebook, same principles apply.

Shell, you either get into management as a lateral hire from another firm, an internal promote after spending multiple years with them or by going through their leadership development program which requires an mba and phd's are not even considered for the program.

So where do phd's fit in? In a tech company, phd's are refined to the lab or floor work as you called it

I find it funny that all the companies you listed do not have one phd on their board of directors..

CEO of Microsoft.. Steve Ballmer.. Bachelors in econs, dropped out of his mba program
Bill Gates.. We know that story
CEO of HP.. Meg Whitman.. Harvard MBA
CEO of Shell.. Peter Vosen.. Bachelors in Business Admin
CEO of Facebook.. Mack Zuckerberg.. College dropout
CEO of Oracle.. Larry Ellison.. College dropout
CEO of Apple.. Tim Cook.. Duke MBA
CEO of Twitter.. Jack Dorsey.. dropped out of nyu
CEO of Yahoo.. Marissa Mayer.. masters in computer science
Founder of Google.. Sergey Brin.. Bachelors in computer science
CEO/Founder of Google.. Larry Page.. Masters in engineering
Co-CEO of Google.. Eric Schimdt.. Phd (UCBerkeley) - 32 years of experience

So basically aside from the co-ceo of google, most tech companies do not have phd's on their board of directors.. What exactly are phd's running?

My younger sister has a bachelors and masters in chemical engineering and a phd in petroleum engineering (research focus was refinery design and optimization and delayed coking processes) from the University of Texas.. Right now she works at BP in a lab, she is not in management. She gets paid the same amount a masters degree graduate would be paid. The company said the added value of a phd just wasn't there for them. She had similar responses from Shell and Chevron when she was interviewing. BP was obviously the best choice and she loves what she is doing. She isn't complaining because she didnt go into the phd for the wrong reasons and the pay is still decent but her boss told her, she could have accomplished the same goals with her masters. Now in an area like nigeria where refineries are needed, she might benefit from the added value of her research and phd but in the United States where the refineries are on the decline, she wouldn't have as much bargaining power.

I on the other hand have a bachelors in computer engineering and have a masters in engineering management from university of texas.. i started my career out as a programmer, worked my way to team lead and eventually product manager for multiple big name tech companies.. At the time when i was considering going for my masters, i also applied to phd programs in computer engineering.. got accepted to a couple of big name universities but after talking to my boss at the time, my mentor and doing my research, i found out that i would be confining myself to one specific role.. I was more interested in management and policy making rather than focusing on the nitty gritty of tech details.. Originally i wanted an mba but my company offered to pay for a masters in engineering management degree and wouldnt cover the costs of an mba.. so i took the free degree.. i now work as a project manager for a fortune 50 tech company (which i wont name) and i oversee hiring and firing in my department.. With the flood of IT phd's from india and china right now, we are definitely not hiring them and thats the trend in the industry right now.. Experience is valuable these days and thats what companies are paying for. No one is hiring phd's for management.

The only place where a phd in CS might be valuable is on wall street as a quant or designing trading systems but even then you'd have to be very good at programming and you wont be getting hired into management.

So maybe you didnt understand me, i am not saying a phd is not a good degree, but in the OP's situation it isn't.. First of all he doesn't sound like he is genuinely interested in a phd program. His main motivation is money. If money is his only motivation, he will fail or be disappointed. You go into phd program's because you genuinely are interested in the subject regardless of how much you will make from it. Dont give the OP false hope, you make it sound like the day he walks out of a university with his phd degree in nigeria, he will be hired the next day as a director. Arent phd holders the same people lining up to fill out dangote drivers applications?

If he genuinely loves the subject, then he should go for it regardless of the monetary benefits. Although, i am not familiar with the nigerian IT atmosphere, i would assume that the IT security industry in nigeria is way behind the rest of the world so whatever education you'd get there would still be far behind your peers at similar universities in other parts of the world.

OP, if you want to make money, go and make money, if you want to study, go and study.. You dont study to make money, you study because its a subject you are interested in..

drzed: @ballabriggs and Ajanlekoko: Well said guys.

@obi2012: people like you will continue to operate in the 'factory floor' of your companies. The big money you think you are making now will only help you outshine your mates for a while. The only thing your so-called CNNP, CISSP, PDP, GQRX and other certifications will get for you is career advancement for a decade or so. All those certification only means you can install software or run it on a network without making mistake and when there is problem, you can trouble shoot and find it. Chikenan! No more no less.

At a point in your life (when your hairline starts to recede), you would want to leave the factory floor or banking hall and get an office in the top floor or penthouse. You will be tired of installing Microsoft Exchange and trouble-shooting CISCO Network Routers. You would want to sit on company board as a director. At that stage, even someone with ordinary Masters degree will overtake you and all your CQPXZ certification. You read it here. Mark my words.

In other words, all what your certification does is allow you to implement the solutions that PhD holders and researchers have designed. Or to carry out instructions they are dishing from the top. In short, your certifications only makes you a very good 'worker'. Certification is unnecessary for a PhD holder. He has led the way in his field and will continue to be a leader in his field.

The people who actually run things in Google, Apple, Microsoft, Shell, GM, Samsung, etc all have PhDs. Check all the major corporations in the world and study the profile of those who make it tick (not those who own it, we can only have a few Bill Gates and Steve Jobs). Check those who decide on major issues at board level. Even in Nigeria here, many board members of serious companies are PhD holders. Check serious governments in the US, Canada, UK, Japan and see who are those creating policies on economy and development: they have PhDs.

Those who have PhDs will continuously invent and innovate and make decisions...for people with CNSSP to implement on the factory floor.

Those who refuse to think will forever be the prisoners of other people's thoughts.

PhD holders are thinkers. Enough said.

lol.. no one is saying IT is installing exchange but from a companies perspective, you dont get a phd to do IT security.. Experience and certs count a lot more than phd... A phd restricts you to a certain path.. There is no reason to get a phd in IT security especially not from a monetary aspect

AjanleKoko: Not true at all.
PhDs are needed in any R and D environment. Not the least IT.
IT is more than installing MS Exchange oh, bros. That's sysadmin work. You don't even need a Bsc to do that.

Actually, phd's are more on the factory floor designing and not in management positions.. There is little advancement for a phd holder at such companies.. Again, i am not talking about nigerian companies

ballabriggs: If there is any area where you find a lot of PhD's it is in the IT industry. From Apple, to Google, to twitter, to Intel, you find loads of PhD's contributing, redesigning and re-engineering processes and products in these companies.

These are organisations that know their worth and not those your "IT companies" at Otigba street Ikeja.

a phd in IT security does not add value from a company's point of view..

a bachelors degree with a ccnp or cissp or a bunch of other certs is worth more than a phd..

You dont go into a phd for money, you go into a phd because you love research or love the field enough to teach in it but not for money.. In certain cases a phd might even limit your employment opportunities..

There are only certain fields where a phd translates to higher pay : economics, healthcare and certain types of engineering.. definitely not IT

if your car is a 4 cylinder 2003 camry, you have the 2azfe engine...

if you have a v6, you are safe

ray502: @ikenna,weldone bros.I want to be very clear about this coz I drive a 2003 camry.Are you saying the camry can come with an engine other than the 2AZFE engine?if so how do you identify the 2AZFE engine?sorry I m a layman here...

The plastic intake on the car coupled with an aluminium block and the bad headgasket material causes the bolt to break..

At my shop, we typically drill the head for a bigger bolt, double the gasket or use a metal gasket and use a bolt with stronger material... The head and the block has to be sanded because the heat causes the head and block to warp

Ikenna351: Find the link below:

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/camry/148454-camry-with-stripped-head-bolts/#post1242970

No wonder Camry 2.4 L I4 engine (Big for Nothing) cost fortune in Nigeria, because of its frequent failure & high demand.

I would advice, if you must buy that Camry model (Big 4 Nothing), avoid one with 2.4 L engine, I4 engine entirely or any Toyota with that particular engine, 2AZ-FE.

Just saying.

Ikenna.

its not a 2003 problem only...

Its 2002-2006 camry's..

US-AutoBuy:
[b]I had a similar experience with a 2003 Highlander that i bought for a client. However, the problem is only limited to the 2003 model years and have since been corrected.

If you have a problem, you can actually fix it. The one i imported was fixed by retreading the engine block (with helicoil i pressume). Its nothing to be too afraid of.

But if you yet to buy one, i will suggest you go for the 2002 or skip straight to the 2004/up model.

The 2000/2001 model with the 2.2L engine is fine for the guy asking. No need to worry.

What i think happened was that Toyota experimented with some new process that year and it was a failure as we later come to find out.

There is a reason Toyota is Number 1 worldwide. All these people bashing Toyota possibly don't live in Nigeria. Here in Nigeria, i will rather push a Toyota than drive a Ford (No pun intended Sultaan)

Cos i know that sooner or later, i will find the solution to the problem. Your Ford might spend the rest of its days on the jack stand cos no one can find whats wrong with it.

Different case in the US. This is Nigeria afterall.

From, Felele, Ibadan, I write.

Peace out![/b]

i dey try my luck now.. ghana + yoruba combination go dey deadly

liberty300: guy, u sabi jonze oo. But finally, ghananians too dey carry backyard. Imagine yoruba+ghana combination?...nah "cha m nuzo" dem go dey call am

i dont believe you.. post a pic of your nyash.. i will tell your nationality from your nyash..

ghana girls too carry big nyash

neena adjei:
are you done well you should think before you speak because i am half nigerian my father is a yoruba man whiles my mum is ghanaian too i am not comparing myself to nigerians because I AM nigerian soooo chaaaa off

go back to ghana jor..

neena adjei: Are there no nigerians on ghanaian websites plzzzzz dont start an arguememt at alllllll i dnt wnt trouble......oh and yh btw i am a peadiatric nurse at st georges hospotal come look for me there......

u no get job? why not go to ghanaland.com and make noise?

neena adjei: i am ghanaian i dnt noe bout da oder 1

i dont think he gets himself

truelove.com:
I dont get you

this is painful to read.. They are only going to come back stronger than ever... Never negotiate with terrorists.. They are going to reinforce and then come back and show people pepper...

Seriously, i stopped reading after you mentioned Marwa..

You are talking about business.. Do businesses just flood a place overnight? Right now, he is laying the foundation for businesses to come in.. You guys are always complaining about the common man and that he is catering towards the wealthy people.. Everyone wants free handout's.. Investors are interested in proper infrastructure like good roads, projects like Lekki free trade zone and such.. Projects like that lay the foundation for the economy to grow since they attract foreign investors.. Internal generated revenue cant support such growth at once.. No wise person will limit all their cashflow by using it all up on infrastructure. You borrow at a reasonable rate that you can pay back and use your cash for internal expenditures and salaries. How can you mention Marwa? You wont see the full effect of fashola's work while he is in office..

kennytidistar: look at the way you just massacre your self, ok, i dont know for how long you have been in lagos. But as for me in terms of development and good governance major buba marwa did exceedingly well not all the propaganda you have from fashola today, i was born in lagos, so you cant tell me anything about lagos i dont know i school in lagos and serve there and i am also working in lagos, that is why i'm supprise when some of you come here and rant nonsense, which business are you talking about? Is it the business that has been in lagos even before fashola was born? If there has not been fed govt home in lagos in the past where will he get s igr we need to be sincere with our selves this time around somebody patch road and you are praising him, is it not his responsibility to do that? He is been paid a salary from my tax, i should even charge to do more without loan.

are the roads the common man walk on free? is securing the state free? is a clean environment free? all these things benefit the common man.. also dont you realize that when he invests in infrastructure to better the state, it encourages companies to invest in the state thereby creating jobs for the common man? Most people dont realize what he is doing because he doesnt directly hand cash to you, it doesnt mean it doesnt benefit you...

kennytidistar: thats one of those things, you have an idea though, but its not applicable to a state but a country as a whole considering nigeria for example our many lagosian eat from lagos government pulse, minut, ok let say those who work in the ministries and local government, so how will this huge loan add to the value of those who never works in the ministry considering the rate of draconia law made by him that keep common man away from doing their business, please tell me monduro

Lol, nigerians are too funny..

Economies borrow all the time.. The United States debt is over $1 trillion and they still have money to fight wars and give to charity. What you should consider is the cost of borrowing, pay back period and where the money is going to as well as the return on the investment? Lagos is the fastest growing economy and is also the most populated state in africa and cannot depend on federal allocations to complete its capital projects. Its revenue from taxes will also not cover the cost of capital projects. Lagosians want development but yet they complain about paying taxes, they complain about projects not being done but when you borrow money to complete such projects, they complain. Where is the money supposed to come from?

It is ok to borrow money especially for things like infrastructural and capital expenditures if the interest rates are not unreasonable. Economies also borrow money at reasonable rates so as to maintain their cash flow to run other expenses like paying their workers and such. Depending on the interest rates, the cost of borrowing money might also be non-existent. If i borrow money and my interest rate from you is 3%, i turn around and invest in a project that generates 6% of the money you gave me back, the cost of borrowing is wiped out and i am making 3% without touching my capital.

Think about it, if we borrowed money as a country at a really low interest rate, we would have enough money to finance the build of multiple refineries and the interest rate would be wiped out by the money we saved from not shipping oil abroad and buying refined crude back. The savings could be redistributed back to the citizens.

Lots of states and even the nigerian government borrows money and they dont have anything to show for it. Lagos at least has things to show for it.

every government is accountable and owes an explanation to the citizens who they are ruling.. so dont say the government doesn't owe anyone any explanation..

wasnt bill clinton put on trial for his sexual life which had nothing to do with his governance in the united states?

how can you say the government owes no one any explanation?

goodmike7: Sometimes I wonder how some of you here think,well am no more shocked because majority of you are kids. Who is oby to make the president set up task forceis she in the opposition partyis she a member of the senate or house of reps??who is she Just a former minister of the most corrupt government on earth...you guys are really funny sha.

May I state here that the presidency owes nobody any explanation but because of the humility of te current president hence thes nonsense occur,who is oby again I ask??can she try this rubbish with obj or because GEJ refused giving her ministerial slot after her appeal. God punish her.

how many committees do these people have?

Nigerian government is definitely not transparent.. So much looting going on, the day they want to prove their innocence, they should allow a foreign company to audit their accounts and make the findings public.. Or accept a public debate and speak on such issues..

Of course he'll never accept the challenge..

Nigeria would be a much better place if the politicians could be held more accountable

yes o

CFCfan: lol Is it because of the Chinese hair she's carrying?

no he isnt

RICHIE BOI: Incase u didn't know, BV is gay.

naija girls go kidnap her o

LOL.. really, you are making fun of someone's grammar? Read what you wrote again

yuzedo: Huh? Those ugly niger-delta crackhead IBO boys? They kant even spek englsish. Thiese boys are the bigggest this grace Nigeria has ever produce, they need to loook for anti virus to help them improve there fuk up englisg grammmer(No oofiencee)


God I miss corky-pie!!!