Have you talked to the career advisors at your school about this? I do know that some people stop in the middle of the PhDs because they got an offer from a tech company. Since you have some background in CS, I expect that's something that's *possible*, depending on how much ML/data science you incorporate in your research. However, if you just plan to quit your PhD and find a job, it may be awkward to find an explanation for the HR people, so I'd be cautious about what you're saying.

I agree it'd hard to do another Master's in CS now that you're approaching the end of your ling one alread…