Agree that a PhD shouldn’t be taken on lightly, however I think students should also leave if it’s not a good fit too. Years doing a PhD that they don’t like at

Agree that a PhD shouldn’t be taken on lightly, however I think students should also leave if it’s not a good fit too. Years doing a PhD that they don’t like at near minimum wage can be a horrible experience. Re: Silicon Valley wages. I can’t fault someone for leaving a PhD for a 10x (or more for ML/AI) salary increase. There’s a huge opportunity cost to doing a PhD for those with the right skills, and the various funding agencies need to provide much better salaries otherwise the brain drain into private industry is just going to continue. Also compounded by the number of permanent positions available in academia too.