I'm a late stage phd student contracting in industry and finishing my theiss part time. I was chatting with a prof the other day, saying how I was pretty happy

I'm a late stage phd student contracting in industry and finishing my theiss part time. I was chatting with a prof the other day, saying how I was pretty happy with my work situation. He said "so they pay you well, give you interesting work, and leave you alone to get on with it. Sounds pretty sweet to me". So it depends on the gig. I am particularly lucky, not due to good skill as a programmer, but due to good, relevant, people and project management skills.