Embedded Systems

What interests you? Rather than asking strangers for suggestions, you should think about what you want to be doing with your PhD, and how your PhD topic will affect what opportunities you get.

Clearly there's not a research topic that you're on fire to do -- if there were, you wouldn't be asking. Do you want to do research at all? If so, do you care about the subject, or do you care about something else? If you want money, find out who makes money, read their papers, and pick a topic -- or better yet, contact them and see if you can be their student, or at least if they can suggest a topic. If you want to live somewhere specific, look at the topics that seem hot with the faculty in the nearby universities. Etc.

Do you want to work in industry? Pick a company or two, look at the research papers that _their_ top brains are producing, and pick a topic out of that. Once again, you shouldn't hesitate to contact them and ask for topic suggestions.

If you just want to get those three letters tacked onto your name, and you don't care much, specifically, what you do with them, then find a thesis advisor who tends to get people through his program with dispatch and comfort, and ask _him_ for a topic.

(And stand by for a bunch of anti-PhD flak -- many working engineers feel they're over rated).

Degreed engineers are overrated - in a locomotive cab. (:

Degrees are important, but PhD's are not. Depending on the type of company and the type of job, there is a place for research-type work. But most engineering is development, not research - you have at least a rough idea of how to solve the problems before you. The work is normally a bit more practical and a bit less theoretical.

It is not unlikely that a PhD will actually count against a newly educated engineer. Potential employers will worry that the person will spend too much time trying to study the problem, instead of just making the thing work. Or for programming, the PhD student may want to spend weeks trying to prove the correctness his code, written in some obscure language that is popular at his university, when the project just needs some C code that is written, tested, and works. Such fears may or may not be justified, but they exist nonetheless.

And what benefits does the PhD actually give? I have worked together with a few engineers and programmers who have PhD's. I may have worked with more without knowing it - here in Norway, people don't tend to flaunt them, and seldom use the title "Doctor". I can't say I've noticed that they stood out in any way as being particularly good (though not particularly bad either). Experience, attitude, personal interest and innate aptitude count for far more than a doctorate.

Of course, it all depends on the sorts of jobs you are looking at. Some jobs involve a lot more theoretical background, and a lot more research-type work. If you are interested in making development tools, then a PhD extending a project on compiler optimisation would be a very positive thing. If you are interested in /using/ development tools, then such a PhD would be useless.

Nothing is clear cut and it depends on the role and the job.

I've got where I want in most places being the least educated person but working damn hard. However, when there is a particularly difficult control problem for which a design and coded solution is required, I just do the coded solution and leave the design to the PHDs.

Becoming a perpetual student is not a good thing though. The best engineers are the ones with experience in the field, which cannot be taught, no matter how good the school is.

Regards, Richard.

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When you do find somebody attempting to work as an engineer who insists on being called "Doctor", you should avoid him/her at all costs. In my experience those are the ones who are completely incomptetent in a real world setting.

I agree.

I once worked at a research center. There were Phd's who got called Doctor for most of the after graduation party and when they returned to work a few days later they were Jack or Mike same as usual. There were others who insisted that their phone listing, drivers licence and all personal documents including the name plate on their door be changed.

I would hire Jack or Mike any day because they were just starting to do their good work and knew it. Dr's... felt they should be honoured forever for the contribution to science in a tome called a thesis.. One of the Jack's I know wrote a 7 page Phd thesis that got a standup applause from his external examiners for a piece of outstanding original work.

Walter..

Ditto . I don't care what pieces of paper they have earned or what they would like to be called.... I'd rather see what they've done. Samples are good but are rarely bought to show for interviews.

boB