The primary output of a PhD is not a good project -- it&#x27;s actually the European system that&#x27;s geared towards quick cheap labor for the PI&#x27;s idea. Instead, the output of the US system is researchers capable of forging their own path. No surprise Jean landed a professorship at CMU after all this. That&#x27;s useful for anyone in a thought leadership role, e.g., PI&#x2F;CEO&#x2F;CTO. (Though yes, for related reasons, US CS systems PhDs probably also have a higher impact factor, e.g., they&#x27;re actually implemented as is discussed in her post.)<p>As for the bean counting: her first-author PLDI best paper is the field&#x27;s equivalent of a Nature paper, and she got one in her first year.