As usual, lot of PhD bashing in the comments. My experience was generally positive.
The good things
1. I had mostly fun doing it. Being paid to learn things is great.
2. I got to work in different countries, and travel to many places
3. I was able to have more than one career. PhD + academia, before switching to industry. Gave me more perspectives.
4. I did learn a few things and skills (public speaking, I learned a lot of things while teaching too).
The bad things
1. Opportunity cost. I could have earned more but, would have I had the same career with the PhD? hard to tell
2. A lot of what I learned is totally useless.
3. Doing a PhD was fun, being a professor wasn't. Boring administrative work, lots of bitterness among academics, unhealthy competition. (and I wasn't good enough).
Overall, I would probably do the PhD again, but wouldn't go to academia. I find that working for a big corporation can be depressing/stressful. I'm glad I did other things in my life.
The good things
1. I had mostly fun doing it. Being paid to learn things is great.
2. I got to work in different countries, and travel to many places
3. I was able to have more than one career. PhD + academia, before switching to industry. Gave me more perspectives.
4. I did learn a few things and skills (public speaking, I learned a lot of things while teaching too).
The bad things
1. Opportunity cost. I could have earned more but, would have I had the same career with the PhD? hard to tell
2. A lot of what I learned is totally useless.
3. Doing a PhD was fun, being a professor wasn't. Boring administrative work, lots of bitterness among academics, unhealthy competition. (and I wasn't good enough).
Overall, I would probably do the PhD again, but wouldn't go to academia. I find that working for a big corporation can be depressing/stressful. I'm glad I did other things in my life.