[nikkwong]

Not sure. I'm in my 20's and have done well enough in industry (programming) and with side projects to not have to worry about making money any more. Now that basic needs are met, the question is how to spend my time in the ways that are the most interesting to me.

As just someone with some business savvy and programming skills, I could go work as a staff engineer somewhere—but that probably won't be that interesting or impactful. If I go work at FAANG I'll probably work on ads or tweaking existing systems—a cog in the wheel.

So the idea of going back to school to try for a PhD in some interesting field is now something I'm considering seriously. I graduated from college 5 years ago and I remember thinking about how badly I wanted to stop studying and start making money in the 'real world'. Funny how retrospectively I can see how that was all subliminally motivated by finances; and now that such pressure has subsided, life is much more about fields of interest and purposeful work.

The question is then, will a PhD always lead to meaningful work, or am I digging myself into a hole, and I don't really know the answer to that.