There are many ways to fail. At this point though, I'm not sure there are any ways left to "succeed". If I were pressed for advice I'd say for someone to do what they think they would regret the least:-|.
This is the mistake I made. I never found the thing I truly enjoy and so I ended up uneducated and working in a shitty factory... I should have just gone to school for CS (which i had absofucklutly no interest in) with my friend... Now that ship has sailed along with the WebDev stuff another friend is getting paid quite well from...
I never found the thing I enjoy, but I sure as hell worked a lot of jobs I hate.
For anyone reading this that's still young enough, fuck your passion, chase money. Money buys stability which brings happiness fuck this money doesn't buy happiness bullshit. Money buys your future.
Well, don't be too hard on yourself. Life is a journey, and I can only hope that you are smarter now than when you were younger:-).
Also, things CHANGED, like A LOT since then (the pandemic accelerated a lot of it) - and what's more, as the documentary Inequality for All (that link lets you watch the entire thing free) reveals beautifully, they had been steadily changing for almost 50 years but for various reasons people did not (want/choose to) realize that (e.g. the rise in women outright wanting to work rather than be restricted to solely be allowed to work as a homemaker happened independently, so "the economy getting harsher" did not seem the primary explanation for why people were switching to 2-person income).
The sheeple did not want to know, but also their leaders (politicians etc.) themselves chose to close their eyes to what was happening, as it happened - even as they were paid (bribed) to do. (btw I would rephrase what you said as "prioritize your career stability" - b/c while money is useful, it does not seem to me to be worth selling your soul for, like at all costs - but yeah, ensuring that your basic needs are going to be met is 100% something that people need to be told, despite how colleges are trying to sell the opposite BS just to fill their own bank accounts)
That said, I've seen people leave tech / office work and become literal janitors - it royally sucks when they lose their health insurance and the boss won't even look them in the eyes as he tells them that fact - but depending on your personal circumstances, you gotta do what works for your own mental health.
The American Dream died for many people (even most younger ones?) a long time ago, and what remains is its animated corpse that occasionally moves but for reasons other than "life". I hope you find a way to improve your own circumstances, as much as you can anyway.
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it lets you buy off most sources of unhappiness.
Go now, and fail in what way seems best to you.
Even "success" carries with it such burdens nowadays - e.g. Professors get to initiate younger people into this hellscape of soul-crushing debt followed by the same ethical dilemma that plagued them except has only become more heightened over time?
And heaven forbid that you invent something, like a cure for a disease, either watching as it becomes restricted solely to the wealthy, or else people use it to win political games, and either harm others or like rub it on their own crotches I guess - when we all know that the only proper use is to win internet arguments on social media sites:-P.
Seriously, I am losing the faith and if someone could point me to a good resource to help restore it that would be wonderful... Though realistically thinking I do not think that things will become better in any of our lifetimes.
At which point, grouchy old man yelling at cloud.gif aside, "managing expectations" seems the only positive way to move forward, that I can think of at least:-|.
Yeah but maybe you discover something cool, and your name will be a foot note for other phd nerds to discover in their graduate level text books, while the rest of the world thanks ElonGates Ventures, and enters it into their oral histories.
It has the electrolytes that plants crave!
Sorry(-not sorry) lol, I could not resist throwing in that quote:-P.
The missing 5th panel would be "I'm tired of this shit. Fuck science and research. I'm going to look for a real job". And yes, I'm in that 5th panel. Unfortunately.
The 6th panel is locked away in the back of the lab in joker makeup.
Perhaps it was implied, by virtue of it being obviously true:-).
Where's the next frame "the p-value was nearly significant, please provide funding for my next work"
"Why do all my job applications come back negative? What the fuck does 'overqualified' mean‽"
I was going to comment that someone doing a postdoc who would certainly know how to spell the word "definitely", then I realized, no they wouldn't.
Okay but... don't miss out on the forest for the trees either. e.g., teh hmuna brian is atsongihnigly good at pttaren reocgintoin.
Where's the "surely if I do ANOTHER postdoc I'll be a better applicant for a TT position..."
How is education in science treated/rewarded in other countries?
What countries are front runners in actively seeking out and promoting scientific advancement for the benefit of their economy; or whatever it is that other countries seek to improve through scientific advancement?
Or has the whole world become a close-minded cesspit of greed that only sees education as a way to make a fortune off some of the world's most capable minds whilst simultaneously crushing their spirit and holding them back?
I'm in this picture and I don't like it
There are some ways to use a PhD that the Jedi would consider "unnatural".
There should be one more panel of the clown standing in a room full of four year old children:
The enormous lifelong debt that this person incurred over many years of study and will take him 50 years to pay off
