1 and 2 are simply wrong.<p>If you demand someone with a phd from a top 10 (stanford&#x2F;cmu, berkeley, michigan, toronto, ny, columbia, UW, etc) then yes, I agree -- but there&#x27;s probably fewer than 200 of those minted per year.  If you realize a cmu ML phd holder isn&#x27;t going to your startup for $125k + lottery tickets and is instead going to a public company for $200k + $100k in RSUs and are realistic about what you can hire, there are plenty of us with track records of delivering products and making our employers money.<p>That&#x27;s from my perspective both as hiring manager and an employee.  I&#x27;ve been willing to hire both non-phds and outside of the aforementioned schools and really not had much trouble.