This author is primarily talking about a phd in the humanities... ...does the same thing apply to science and engineering fields that aren't as ummm useless in the real world?
Yes, I'm afraid it does. Take two people, equally as smart, both in their late 20s, one did a PhD and one's a CEng (or PEng). They will have very different skillsets at that point and the CEng will be very much more employable. The PhD will have slightly more options however if they decided to move into another field.
