A PhD is really just a project in an academic setting.
There’s likely little real world difference in capability between someone with first class honours and a year in industry, than first class honours plus a PhD.
I mean, it's a long, specialized project. It really depends on the specialization. a new grad with a PhD in some LLM tech would be grabbed up much faster than a hobbyist with 5+ years in general SWE with maybe some pet projects made with AI tech.
There’s likely little real world difference in capability between someone with first class honours and a year in industry, than first class honours plus a PhD.