system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Becoming a researcher without a PhD

I'm currently a CS undergrad and I have a job lined up for after I graduate. However, I love CS, learning, and research and have thus been considering going into a PhD program after working for 1-2 years but it will be difficult for me to give up my job making $90k/year to trudge it out in the program for 6 years making $30k/year if I'm lucky. My question is how plausible is it for me to become a researcher without a PhD? I know of many people who tell me they do research in a lab who do not have a PhD; how does the work they do differ from the work a PhD does if it differs at all?
gpt
If you want to be a director, or be in charge of what gets researched, a PhD will be helpful. If your OK with your boss coming to you saying to research X,Y, and Z then a lack of a PhD should not hold you back.