Here's what future career paths very roughly look like for new grads (based on my own perceptions, not glassdoor):
Trying to Cure Cancer: $25k/yr, bump to $40k after 6 years
Engineering Medical Devices, Airplanes, etc: $60k/yr
Trying to Build the Next Twitter: $100k/yr, $150k/yr after 6 years
Helping Rich People Game the System to Get Richer: $150k/yr, $300k/yr after a few years if successful
The desire to stay in academia comes from having different priorities than the market. Many/most people do. The people who don't usually happen to specialize in a field that the market is currently smiling upon. It's great if your dream can be gently tweaked to be compatible with market considerations, but please understand that for most people this is not the case. There are many Big Problems lurking on the horizon where intermediate progress can't be monetized. Academia lets you work on them. The market doesn't.
Here's what future career paths very roughly look like for new grads (based on my own perceptions, not glassdoor)
This sounds reasonable to me. Most people never have the experience of tripling or quadrupling their salary in a single career pivot, but that's what happens when you decide to bail on your sci/tech graduate research program and start working in the software industry. It takes a pretty crazy level of passion for your research domain to accept such insane opportunity costs. When I realized that by staying in science/academia long term I might never be able to afford to buy a house in a decent neighborhood or have kids it made it really easy for me to quit.
Comments
You only mentioned reasons against an academic career.
Presumably you have some for one. Why are you still uncertain?
Here's what future career paths very roughly look like for new grads (based on my own perceptions, not glassdoor):
Trying to Cure Cancer: $25k/yr, bump to $40k after 6 years
Engineering Medical Devices, Airplanes, etc: $60k/yr
Trying to Build the Next Twitter: $100k/yr, $150k/yr after 6 years
Helping Rich People Game the System to Get Richer: $150k/yr, $300k/yr after a few years if successful
The desire to stay in academia comes from having different priorities than the market. Many/most people do. The people who don't usually happen to specialize in a field that the market is currently smiling upon. It's great if your dream can be gently tweaked to be compatible with market considerations, but please understand that for most people this is not the case. There are many Big Problems lurking on the horizon where intermediate progress can't be monetized. Academia lets you work on them. The market doesn't.
This sounds reasonable to me. Most people never have the experience of tripling or quadrupling their salary in a single career pivot, but that's what happens when you decide to bail on your sci/tech graduate research program and start working in the software industry. It takes a pretty crazy level of passion for your research domain to accept such insane opportunity costs. When I realized that by staying in science/academia long term I might never be able to afford to buy a house in a decent neighborhood or have kids it made it really easy for me to quit.