>>13920484I am a postdoc on a $50-$60k annual salary. Here are my reasons:
- I get to research exactly what I want. My research is very theoretical and I wouldn't get an opportunity to do the same research in the industry.
- I don't like having a boss breathing down my neck. I have been working on independent fellowships or for PIs who don't care what I do as long as I publish something. I decide what I do every day.
- I can easily move to different countries. After my PhD (in Europe) I spent 1.5 years in Singapore, 2.5 years in Australia, and am now considering moving to either Japan or Hong Kong. It has been a very fun experience for me.
- I enjoy coding for my personal projects but I would hate to be a codemonkey as a job. I get genuine enjoyment out of my job and I think that, all things considered, I'd rather be actually happy at work than earn 6 figures.
My only worry is obviously what to do afterwards. I could easily apply for tenure-track positions at this point, but I fucking hate teaching, so I guess what I'm going to do is try to compete for the extremely rare permanent researcher-type jobs at a research institute or something. Otherwise I can always just fuck off to industry if I can't get a stable job. But so far, it has been an extremely enjoyable ride for me.
