One thing to note is that, after I submitted the final draft of this article, the Japanese government ended the MEXT university track or is at least planning to. There was a memo, but the status is not clear.
Anyway, I had a great time doing my PhD this way, and generally I recommend that people work before a PhD and try to work during it (if you are in CS). It gives you a lot of freedom and, at least for me, it is very helpful to have more than one pipeline of work at a time so that when one slows down (as it inevitably does in research), you can draw on the other.
Right, so if you then downgrade from the Silicon Valley suburbs with their excellent weather, strong economy, ample cultural and education infrastructure and head to some other less attractive suburb in the United States you’ve gone even further down the lower quality of life rabbit hole.
Not universally. The author wants to live in a city, so of course they're not going to enjoy living in a suburb. It sounds like they'd be better off in an East-cost metropolis like New York instead.
mcyc · · focus · HN ↗
One thing to note is that, after I submitted the final draft of this article, the Japanese government ended the MEXT university track or is at least planning to. There was a memo, but the status is not clear.
Anyway, I had a great time doing my PhD this way, and generally I recommend that people work before a PhD and try to work during it (if you are in CS). It gives you a lot of freedom and, at least for me, it is very helpful to have more than one pipeline of work at a time so that when one slows down (as it inevitably does in research), you can draw on the other.
gkanai · · focus · HN ↗
"In essentially every other category, my quality of life has degraded significantly since returning home. "
This is the challenge. The market in the US, the salaries, etc. are significantly better/higher, but the quality of life is often worse.
Grombobulous · · focus · HN ↗
iamEAP · · focus · HN ↗
Grombobulous · · focus · HN ↗
square_usual · · focus · HN ↗
Grombobulous · · focus · HN ↗