<p>psych_,</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with doing a PhD straight out of undergrad work. SmitieandProud was speaking to a person who felt like she should get a masters but was tired of school. Smitie’s advice was good - there is nothing wrong with waiting a couple years. I agree with this.</p>
<p>People straight out of grad school have no experience, plain and simple. Experience you gain working in a specific job for a length of time. Experience with one thing doesn’t count toward another thing and it’s often not transferrable to other groups or companies. Experience means something only to people who see the experience you have and want to appreciate that.</p>
<p>Degrees last forever. They mean something to everyone you meet. They transfer from one company to another. But they don’t substitute for experience.</p>
<p>Teaching, publishing, and presenting will count as experience if you are aspiring to be a professor…but not as experience if you are planning at working at (most) private companies.</p>