Anti-credentialist take: citation-farming PhDs would be happier as engineers
menhguin · x · 2026-11-08
The author describes a "sad archetype": strong test-takers who treat a PhD as the next level-up, spending their days citation-farming papers while genuinely preferring well-defined engineering problems. Arguing against credentialism, he says these people should just become engineers, and notes the mismatch where those ill-suited to unstructured inquiry are pushed into PhDs while natural researchers drop out of undergrad.
Related event: Debate Flares Over PhD Value and Mismatched Selection in CS(4 posts)→
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