[sev0]

Not starving or being homeless are great motivators. But yeah, why didn't they just get $250k FAANG jobs like the other 300 million Americans?

[i_am_nomad]

I don’t think those people had a binary choice between starving and a Ph.D. program.

[claudiawerner]

Wanting to have your cake and eat it too is no great sin. In fact, it's what everyone, everywhere in modern society is trying to do. You want a job you enjoy, and that pays well. That seems like something worth fighting for. Just what you're doing eight hours a day is a very large amount of your lifetime.