During parts of the Cold War, near DC, some knowledge of some STEM topics, e.g., assembler, Fortran, PL/I, C, the algorithms in the relevant book by Knuth, the

During parts of the Cold War, near DC, some knowledge of some STEM topics, e.g., assembler, Fortran, PL/I, C, the algorithms in the relevant book by Knuth, the fast Fourier transform, Kalman filtering, Maxwell's equations, algebraic coding theory, antenna theory, optimization, especially with a Ph.D., could generate a relatively good career in US national security. Maybe now, not just near DC or in US national security, if can get a job in some organization that is doing important work, then there is a chance that can see an important problem and use good STEM field knowledge and computing to get a very valuable solution -- none of the effort part of the job description. And IMHO computing and the Internet are continuing to explode, that is, have not yet nearly been fully exploited. Then maybe pick a promising problem, use some STEM field knowledge, computing, and the Internet to get a valuable solution, and start a business. Ph.D.? (1) Aim for a Ph.D. in engineering. (2) Take some courses you believe might be helpful for your Ph.D. research and/or your career later. (3) For your research, find, pick your own problem, maybe from practice outside of academics. (4) Complete your research on your own and hand the results to your department or advisor(s). At some universities, the official requirement for a dissertation is "an original contribution to knowledge worthy of publication" So, at such a university and more generally, to remove nearly all doubt about your dissertation, publish your work. Maybe for your first job, accept an assistant professor position in some engineering school and from there make contacts for a good career outside of academics.