There are other paths, though they are somewhat more narrow and precarious. I'm research faculty at a University, for example. I am dependent on getting enough

There are other paths, though they are somewhat more narrow and precarious. I'm research faculty at a University, for example. I am dependent on getting enough grants to pay my (increasingly expensive, though not by silicon valley standards) salary, which is a bit scary, especially in the current funding enivironment, but I don't teach (though I do work with students doing research) and spent most of my time doing research. (Yes, I have to apply for and manage grants too, but that doesn't take THAT much time, as much as it is annoying). There are also national labs in various disciplines in many countries (e.g. in Germany you have DESY and various MPI's, in the NL there is ASTRON and NIKHEF and probably others I don't know about because I only know about my narrow field...).