[noir_lord]

My path was working minimum wage while doing side work for people, eventually I had more coming in from the side work than the day job but kept doing both because day job at least covered the rent/bills eventually someone I was doing side work for offered me a full time job at enough to match both day job and side job, three years later I moved on and have kept moving every 3 years or so since.

At this point with my CV no one even asks about academics and hasn’t for a decade or so, the work/references speak for themselves.

I’d hate to be young in this market though which is why I’m so happy a good chunk of my time is/will be spent on the mentoring side.

Helping people get started in a rewarding career is itself rewarding.