Ask HN: Is a PhD a hint that you have tried to avoid working in industry?

EU perspective here: no, a PhD indicates that you're interested in research, and are capable of jumping through organizational hoops to make such happen.

I've hired PhDs as (very) successful product managers twice. In both cases, the candidates were very eager to look into all existing research around the product line, as well as perform interviews to determine any gaps.

That, for me, was and is extremely valuable. But, on the other hand, if you're looking for a 1000x Rockstar Coder<tm>, a recent PhD hire may not be for you.

I am very curious as to what prompted these questions. They seem like very crude generalizations/extrapolations/stereotypes.

People of varying dispositions have wide ranging motivations to pursue a PhD.

If you don’t like being told what to do, boy do I have bad news about PhDs for you...

When publishing papers, if a reviewer tells you to jump from the bridge, you tell him how right and intelligent he is and jump from the bridge.