I think most people are pretty good at retroactively creating a narrative around whatever they find themselves doing to imbue it with meaning and purpose. I th

I think most people are pretty good at retroactively creating a narrative around whatever they find themselves doing to imbue it with meaning and purpose. I think most people do want to work on something meaningful, but few start with the purpose and then pursue that. Then given the difficulty of actually getting into what you want (either access restrictions via things like admission, the randomness of technical interviews, or the thing you want not being very lucrative) - you're better off doing what you can until you have the money to be free. Unless you can tolerate lots of risk, don't worry that much about having a family, or have some existing family wealth.