PhD student and faculty (quite briefly). Serving on grant panels also informed this view, but looking back, I think I was already getting disgusted by the cultu

PhD student and faculty (quite briefly). Serving on grant panels also informed this view, but looking back, I think I was already getting disgusted by the culture of academia around my second year of grad school. My immediate family spent/spends much more time in academia than I, including the person I live with who has built their career in academia. My own experience of academia was actually quite positive -- I enjoyed my PhD years, was well-supported, received many tenure-track offers from elite institutions immediately out of my PhD, and I left on better than good terms with coworkers and former colleagues. My assessment isn't a result of personal bitterness or a failure to "win the game", if that's what you're getting at. Quite the opposite, in fact -- doing extremely well in the early career game afforded me the personal confidence to leave the track to which I had previously committed. (FWIW, the fact that I'll retire many decades earlier than I would've otherwise was not immaterial to my decision making)