PhD vs. MS in industry

[geekman1]

I know this is vague, but can anyone offer any advice on the matter? Basically I am currently in a PhD program (in Statistics) and I am trying to determine if I should finish the program with the PhD or leave and take a Masters degree. 

 

The road to the PhD still involves 2+ years potentially and I think I'd be miserable doing it. So, what kind of jobs are available for Masters vs. PhD? Will it prevent me from getting certain positions down the road? What kind of pay can I expect across various industries and what is the job market like? [Feel free to answer any of these questions.] Thank you for the advice in advance!

Edited January 29, 2014 by geekman1

[wine in coffee cups]

I think it depends on what exactly you mean by "industry". Obviously not having a PhD closes doors on some more research-focused positions, but hard to say beyond that without more specifics. Many positions at companies with "analyst" in the job title would be fair game for a stat master's, though the required competency with databases/programming and specialized industry knowledge will vary quite a bit.

 

A place to start if you are utterly lost might be to search LinkedIn profiles for people who have a M.S. in statistics from universities of comparable quality or similar location to yours and see what they're doing now. That way you can also see which technical skills seem to be important enough to highlight and what you might work on if you prepare to exit your program. You can also look up salaries for a lot of medium-large companies or job titles on Glassdoor, which I've anecdotally found to be accurate.