[rubylark]

I was a bit hyperbolic in my statement, mainly because I was parroting some dinner table conversations. However your list is still fairly short and few are in the same location. If you say, get a PhD in the Midwest in EE specializing in novel transistor fabrication techniques, you likely will have to move states to get a job in the area of your expertise. And if you are unhappy in your job for any reason, you will have to move again to work for a different "big name" company.

I guess the point I was trying to make in my trite (and I admit, inaccurate) statement was that it's not as accessible of a career path as, say, coding. It's more like becoming a rocket scientist: there are very few companies to pick from in that field. And they're not typically in the same place geographically.