[erjiang]

It's only a "failure" if you look at your net worth, right? It sounds like you have the experience, knowledge, and even resume of someone much older than 28. If you had instead spent ages 22-28 on a PhD, you'd still have no net worth, but people wouldn't see that as a failure.

[MarcelOlsz]

That's a great point you're right, I'm still young. I'm not about net worth at all, I just want free time. If I'm working on my product 10 hours a day with a tight knit team and sustaining myself, that is success to me. Everything from there on is gravy.

[benibela]

On the contrary. If you do a PhD, you can get paid by the university and build some net worth. And people are impressed when you say you have a PhD, but do not care when you tell them about a graveyard project

[mtnGoat]

im not so sure... IMHO if you spent 20+years in school and are up to your ears in debt and cant find a decent job... thats a big failure to me.

[dave_sid]

If they do manage to be their own boss then that’s a huge success. Worth the effort it it pays off.