22 years old, graduating with my undergrad in math. I have an offer for Jane Street, 300k tc + 75k signon. I also have an offer to work with a professor which has a very good alumni track record (almost all of them are Deepmind / Gbrain / etc or in academia still) for my PhD. I'm in the process of publishing 3 papers (2 conference, 1 workshop, all tier 1 conferences); I enjoy science a lot and it's my current hobby. I do not feel comfortable enough to do independent research, otherwise Jane Street would be a no brainer. Since I've enjoyed science thus far, my current life goal is to become a research scientist or professor, with the knowledge that it's very risky and probably won't work out. The Jane Street TC is so insane though; the idea of working for like 5 years and saving a big nest egg is enticing, but I feel like I'll have golden handcuffs after 5 years. What should I do?
With your talent, follow your heart ❤️ and you won’t go wrong
You can do a PhD at any time but you might not get as good of an offer anytime soon. Take it. Coming from someone with a PhD.
There is more ageism in academia than tech. Professors are far *less* likely to admit you as a PhD student once you’re over 27-28 years old. They prefer fresh 21-23 year olds with no lives (similar to early stage startups). Just like SWE at FANG, if you get an offer from JS once, chances are, you can get it again later.
@OUzv75 are you certain, I have so many people start their PhDs in late 20s, early 30s. In some countries, they first do a masters before moving on to a 5-year PhD.
Take the offer If you have the passion, you can always go back to academia later, if that's really interesting.
I’d go with Jane Street, but that’s just me. You need to decide if you’re more money driven or research/education driven. Imagine that you’re in your late 20s/early30s making maybe $60k/yr as a post-doc with a path towards professorship. It can be fulfilling, but you’ll miss out on other life milestones. The research scientist path is less arduous and you’ll land an entry-level industry job at an older age (maybe mid/late 20s) Or if you have a trust fund and money isn’t an issue, just follow your passion. It’s what many artist do :)
Take the bag.
You already have the PhD offer? Aren’t applications still going on
Just with the lab im currently in
It’s not BS, that’s what Jane street offers their new grads
That’s what you believe in ?
Follow your heart. Not what you think is expected of you.
Do a PhD so you can insist that people call you Doctor
Dr. Timshit
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Take it
Take it bc if you build that nest egg you can retire by 30 or do the job you love without money being an issue! I just turned 30 and i wish i chased money over dreams so that by this age i can chase my dreams comfortably!
Can you elaborate Amazon? What is stopping you from chasing your dreams today?