This is one of my main worries about my impending graduation. Right now, I work on what I find interesting, publish when I have what I think are good results, and have not found that anyone has tried to dictate what I should be working on. Once I graduate though, I'll lose that luxury. Unfortunately I don't know of any "real-world" job that provides such freedom; perhaps grad students are only afforded it because we're so affordable.
Right. It is rather easy for someone with a CS eduction to earn ~$40k a year and spend most of the year in freedom. Just get a contracting/freelance gig. The hard person is getting $100k or $200k or more and still having freedom.
