I had not read your article properly, and I got the impression that you were still considering whether to join the PhD programme. Now I have reread it and you s

I had not read your article properly, and I got the impression that you were still considering whether to join the PhD programme. Now I have reread it and you said you had already started the programme, so you are right, apologies. But then why do you imply, in the conclusion, that leaving academia is like stopping educating yourself? If what you were doing was mainly educating yourself (which was not the case), then you would have been exactly "just a student".