>>11322265Yes. I accepted a 150k/y in a low cost area in AI (I got my master's from the best lab in the world for DL). At first it was fine, I could do legit research and got 2 first co-first-author publications. Then shit hit the fan as we got acquired by FAGMAN. Research was no longer allowed because I "only have a master's" (despite having better credentials than my manager and than most PhD employees). They promised they'd help with paying for the PhD at signup, then said they wouldn't when pressed for it, because I wasn't a scientist position (which are only offered to PhD holders). Also I couldn't get into a scientist position without a PhD. And letting a someone with "only" a master's do research is "a misappropriation of resources".
If you are OK with what it entails to be a "research engineer" you did wrong to go with the PhD of course, but otherwise props to you for not falling for this scam.
The last question is if you prefer programming (undergrad, so you've wasted all this time when you could've gotten rich) or research (in which case you did fantastic).
