Please; would be interested in views on my situation....

I have a 1st in engineering, undergrad masters, and I enjoy detailled, exciting work. I considered a PhD when I started my career, but PhDs in the outside world are often not really neccesary; after all a PhD is about research.

My career has been 10 years so far, and I recently changed my job in the search for more technical work in Industry. What I have found is that in Industry technical standards can be very low, the managers manage the 'business' not the technical standards, and the longer-term analytical projects are sent to Universities anyway. So my attention has turned to whether I should finally give academia a try.

There seem to be so many unknowns - will I get a good project & supervisor? will I miss my professional salary?

I should add that I am sure I would love the thrill & satisfaction of deep technical work, and I am financially very secure. In some ways, I regard a PhD as a life goal, as much as professional achievement, and others say I'd do well.

Should I take the plunge?

All contributions welcome please!

Thanks

DurGrad - yes, you should. Why wouldn't you? We had a 60+ year old PhD student graduate from our department a couple of years ago.