Work for any university as an outside contractor in a research programming position, example: https://cmu.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en https:

Work for any university as an outside contractor in a research programming position, example: https://cmu.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en https://cmu.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en You work with PhDs, so can pursue your graduate interests directly from them while being involved in the research, and get paid at the same time albeit not industry standards, prepare for lower salary. Open AI hires developers too and plenty of researchers are there.