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.
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 ↗
square_usual · · focus · HN ↗
Grombobulous · · focus · HN ↗