What about a decent stable life where you are not struggling, and actually can start a family before turning, say, 35?
I don't think it can be supported by academia anymore.
I just don't want to go through 5-10 years of PhD, then two postdocs, and then start a job that is by no means tenured.
And PhD isn't really a place for satiating your unfettered, unhinged curiosity. You have to do research along your advisor's line of inquiry, look at funding prospects, churn out papers at a cutthroat pace, and then deal with politics. Also, you can somewhat easily change a job, but cannot switch advisors that easily. Switching institutions is considerably harder.
If you want a FAANG job, you can get that without a PhD. And earn much more by the time your PhD were to be finished if you didn't go for it.
EE and CS are fields where you can do your research on your own if you are genuinely curious. Maybe, you won't have a career as a researcher. But you also won't be with a thinning hairline, single, and far from financial indepence at 33.
> What about a decent stable life where you are not struggling, and actually can start a family before turning, say, 35?
I suspect you are an American who doesn't know much about the outside world. Here in the UK, for example, you can finish a PhD in three years (so you could be around 25!).
> And PhD isn't really a place for satiating your unfettered, unhinged curiosity.
Try stopping me! Seriously.
> You have to do research along your advisor's line of inquiry, look at funding prospects, churn out papers at a cutthroat pace, and then deal with politics.
This is simply not true in general. Perhaps it's true in the more woolly, fashion and politics-driven disciplines.
> If you want a FAANG job, you can get that without a PhD.
I mean, no shit...
> at 33.
Again — I don't know where this idea that a PhD takes '5-10 years' comes from. It's nonsense.
What about a decent stable life where you are not struggling, and actually can start a family before turning, say, 35?
I don't think it can be supported by academia anymore.
I just don't want to go through 5-10 years of PhD, then two postdocs, and then start a job that is by no means tenured.
And PhD isn't really a place for satiating your unfettered, unhinged curiosity. You have to do research along your advisor's line of inquiry, look at funding prospects, churn out papers at a cutthroat pace, and then deal with politics. Also, you can somewhat easily change a job, but cannot switch advisors that easily. Switching institutions is considerably harder.
If you want a FAANG job, you can get that without a PhD. And earn much more by the time your PhD were to be finished if you didn't go for it.
EE and CS are fields where you can do your research on your own if you are genuinely curious. Maybe, you won't have a career as a researcher. But you also won't be with a thinning hairline, single, and far from financial indepence at 33.