I have an MSEE and have had lots of Ph.D.’s have worked for me at one time or another.
It’s unusual for someone to say, if you want to get something done, “Let’s ask Dr. Soandso to do it.” I have known some really good Ph.D.’s, sharp and results oriented in all fairness. I do recall one guy who had a Ph.D. in physics from one the world’s most prestigous schools and was the chairman of the E.E. department at an Ivy League school who joined our company. (I worked with him, but he did not work for me, nor I for him.) He couldn’t get anything done and only lasted a year.
I’m results oriented, and don’t care if someone proves me wrong if it gets the job done. What I care about is results, a good job done efficiently.
No one likes a wisenheimer, someone who’s out to prove you wrong (and who wastes your time with endless discussions of first principles.) I also don’t like to do other people’s homework for them or to try explain something to someone who is in no position to understand (e.g., explain Fourier Transforms to someone who doesn’t undertand high school algebra) or is just trying to be difficult.
The point is to remain focused on results, be a team player. A good organization recognizes and treasures people like that.
i guess i didn’t explain well...there is one engineer he works alot with, who wears his phd like a coat. My son saved this engineer’s company over 10 million dollars because he found fault in this bllueprint from this phd, this one engineer belittled my son son because he didn’t have a phd and who did he think he was? My son called the company’s head engineer asked him to come over and look at the fault he had found, and if he wanted the machine to be built with the fault, fine, he would. Needless to say, the head engineer agreed with my son when he saw what the fault was. The 10 million dollar machine was built the right way.