A couple of ideas : -- Deep neural networks. For : not so difficult to learn, still mostly heuristically trained so a lot of room for self-created "gurus", cur

A couple of ideas : -- Deep neural networks. For : not so difficult to learn, still mostly heuristically trained so a lot of room for self-created "gurus", currently sexy with a lot of applications. Against : existing connections to academia and researchers may contribute to the kind of applications you are asked to work on. -- Being a programmer for scientific research. For : a whole lot of different applications, can generally work at universities or institutes anywhere in the world, an intellectually stimulating environment. Against : the level of your higher degree will often determine your pay rate, which may be lower than corporate, credit on papers for programmers is only beginning to gain general acceptance.