>>13927781Economic stability isn't nothing, for one. It's a rather juvenile to think the best idea is to follow your 'passion' at all costs. If one were truly that committed to their interests, they would figure out how to become rich so they could self-fund their research via their own company/lab. At a job, you do your work/research, then you go home. You can then afford to do side projects or enjoy time with your family. Professors often have to teach, so you will have to spend even more of your time planning and executing that, or managing grad students, or planning and traveling to speak at conferences etc. You don't get to just do whatever you want. Plus, if selected carefully, a job can indeed be in a field of interest as well. Hopefully an actual professor will appear and share their experience. I'm not trying to convince you or OP either way, but there is a lot to consider in terms of pros/cons and I again encourage everyone to get involved in research as an undergrad so they can learn about academia and make those calls for themselves.
