Hi,
Im in a right dilema, i have been offered sponsorship for a PhD in communication systems. However, my outcome at the end of the PhD is to get a job and not stay in acedemic. Is it worth doing the PhD? or shall i go into industry now? I do enjoy the subject area i am going to research but im not sure if the PhD will benefit me in "the real world".
Any advice would be a great help, thanks.

I have the same doubt, please answer!

Helen, I was in the same situation and I went for the industry... making a good living now, so no regrets... thinking about it, phd would be great, but now i am thinking mba... also depends on if you need a phd to find respect where you'll work... lots of items to think about... a friend of mine did her phd in 10 years!!! hope you like research... don't reject the phd offer until you secure a job you like!

Maybe not entirely relevant, but I worked for 5 years before going back to school for a Ph.D. (am just starting now). My job was aerospace engineering in the US, and what I found is that if you want money or managment positions, then the PhD is unnecessary, but if you want to do research at your company, it's very difficult to convince the company to keep work in house when they can farm out to a PhD, (either a consultant or Univ).