I didn't know it took ten years to get a doctorate, but I guess it would if you bothered to get a Master's degree first. I thought about getting a Master's or a Doctorate (accelerated program that skipped the silly Master's degree). However, I just couldn't motivate myself. Kudo's to pHaestus!
I was seduced by the lure of a salary with a quick route for advancement. Ahh... it was great being a software engineer during the dotcom boom! (It's still good, but it certainly doesn't pay as much as it used to.) Choice: four to six more years of school with increasing debt and politics, or immediate money.... Besides, Computer Science research is booooooring. All you play with is the chalkboard. Applied computer science is fun! You get to play with fast computers, robots, lasers, big motors, electron microscopes, physics equations, thermodynamics.... Much more fun!
