PhD in EE at Mid-30s: Advice for a 32yo Married Father of 3

[SuperjetMatt]

Some background on me: I am a 32 year old married father of three boys, ages 3-9. I hold a BS in Electrical Engineering that took me 7 years to obtain. (Just graduated last May)
I started out in 2001 with an AAS degree, then slowly (SLOOOOWLY) worked on my BSEE.
I have since then started grad school to get an MSEE and have successfully obtained an EIT license (Engineer in training, pre-cursor to PE).
Up until very recently, I had thought that I would continue my education towards a PhD in EE after the Masters is finished.
Now I am not so sure. I am 32 now, and I'll be 33, maybe 34 when I get the Masters. At that time, I may be able to obtain my PE.
A PhD would likely take another 5 years. I would be almost 40 years old.

My goal is to work in research, be it government funded research (National Labs) or in private industry. Teaching is not my goal.
My problem is that my current job (really, much of my employment history) is not in Electrical Engineering.
I got a job in technical writing right out of college in 2001 and stuck with it for the money. However, I find it very dissatisfying and boring. Now, a lot of this employment history was related to instrumentation, systems engineering, maintenance & reliability, and so forth.
Still, I am not confident that I could call any of it "Engineering". And now I make $72k/yr and support my family on that. I would like to ease into a real engineering job with my BSEE or possibly my MSEE in the future.
Without doing some post-doc research, would a PhD be of any real value to me? Post-doc research seems to pay very little. I can't really afford to take a job paying much less than what I make now.

While I would love the accomplishment and personal satisfaction from obtaining the degree, my main motivation would be my dream of advancing EE knowledge in a lab somewhere. This isn't money related (maybe just a little). Rather, it's my ultimate dream job to be an EE researcher. I spend much of my idle time contemplating various EE/Physics matters and find it very intellectually stimulating and challenging.
(In other words, I would like to believe I have a pretty good idea why I want that degree)

I have looked around online for opinions on this and found that the median age for graduating with a PhD is 32 in the US. So I'd be a few years behind, but not much.


Any opinions and/or advice?
Thanks.
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[story645]

Talk to your wife about the finances?
I've got one friend doing his phd while doing a full time job, but that's very much a characteristic of my school and his advisor so it may not be feasible for you. As a grad student, if you're lucky at best you'll get 30K and the avg. figure I'm seeing is closer to 20K. Even picking up extra teaching loads, assuming they're available, won't bring the numbers up that much.

You may be much better off shopping around for more technical jobs and work your way up to a research position that way.

Now I am not so sure. I am 32 now, and I'll be 33, maybe 34 when I get the Masters. At that time, I may be able to obtain my PE.

How? You have to work under a licensed PE for about 5 years in most states.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It's probably not a very good idea to get a PhD for the money. :)

The first hurdle is how to go through 5 or so years of grad school and keep the $72k a year income. I think you'll need to figure that part out before moving forward. Grad schools typical pay a stipend, but not $72k. Or half that. That's 5 years full-time. Part time will take longer.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

I've talked to my probable advisor about the working/going to school thing already.
He said that given my past performance, it should not be much of an issue to pursue a PhD degree while working full time. (I did the last two years of my undergrad and my current Masters this way)
The only potential issue the advisor identified would be the dissertation topic, as that often ties directly into work (in his experience).

 

[twofish-quant]

Without doing some post-doc research, would a PhD be of any real value to me?

Depends on what you define as value. If the Ph.D. doesn't have any intrinsic value to you, then you really, really, really need to reconsider whether it's worthwhile.

While I would love the accomplishment and personal satisfaction from obtaining the degree, my main motivation would be my dream of advancing EE knowledge in a lab somewhere.

That you can get. While you are working as a graduate student, you will be advancing EE knowledge in a lab somewhere. As with most things, it's one of those "be careful what you wish for because you might get it."

Research is what you learn to do while you before you get the Ph.D. The Ph.D. is a certificate saying that you can and have done research.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

How? You have to work under a licensed PE for about 5 years in most states.

I forgot to answer this yesterday.
The requirement in my home state (WA) is 8 years. An undergrad Engineering degree will cut that in half.
A graduate degree will take another year off, bringing it down to 3 years.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

A little update on this: after much thinking, I came to the realization that I would pursue a PhD for my own personal satisfaction and as a life goal.
I may be able to combine work and PhD research if I get into a job at Pacific Northwest National Labs.
I am half-way done with my MSEE now. While I stated in my OP that I don't care for teaching/academia, I am wondering if this is really true. After all, I have been attending college/university since 1999, so I must like something about it.

 

[elkement]

While I stated in my OP that I don't care for teaching/academia, I am wondering if this is really true. After all, I have been attending college/university since 1999, so I must like something about it.

I feel this comes up very often in this forum - interested in research but not in teaching. What is it specifically why you would like to avoid teaching? I guess it is not teaching per se, but some specifc aspect?

 

[marcusl]

You may find it hard to get hired into a federal lab without hands-on engineering experience. Another possible road is to land a job as an engineer and have them send you to school. All the companies I have worked for have tuition reimbursement programs that pay 80 to 100% of fees and books if you are enrolled in a degree program and maintain a B average. How about moving from writing to engineering at your present company?

 

[SuperjetMatt]

I feel this comes up very often in this forum - interested in research but not in teaching. What is it specifically why you would like to avoid teaching? I guess it is not teaching per se, but some specifc aspect?

I am not opposed to it and have actually warmed up to the idea. Initially it seemed so foreign of a concept that I rejected it outright.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

You may find it hard to get hired into a federal lab without hands-on engineering experience. Another possible road is to land a job as an engineer and have them send you to school. All the companies I have worked for have tuition reimbursement programs that pay 80 to 100% of fees and books if you are enrolled in a degree program and maintain a B average. How about moving from writing to engineering at your present company?

I got half of my BSEE and now my MSEE paid for by my employer. I have doubts that they would support a PhD program, but I don't know yet. The money isn't the only issue though, as a PhD pursuit would take considerably more time than (and be entirely different from) my undergrad and Master's efforts.

I am not considered a writer anymore. My formal job title is Trainer, but my everyday duties are engineering duties. My resume reflects nearly a decade of engineering experience in one form or another. No design experience, but even my tech writing assignments always had engineering aspects to them.

About the lab: I know some people that used to work with. They have vouched for me and hopefully I'll have a shot at it.

 

[mjacobsca]

You only live once. There are no rules. If you want to make it happen, you'll make it happen. Plus, you'll have some life experience to help you. If you can manage it while working, I say go for it. You don't know where it will lead you. But you do know you are unhappy, and you will probably love the pursuit of the degree and the intellectual challenges it provides. It may be CRAZY, but it will be an adventure. Don't let the naysayers stop you!