[II2II]

I did something similar. I told that I was not good enough to do a Ph.D., then was contacted shortly afterwards and asked to be a teaching assistant. Without the burden of grad studies, I ended up doing actual teaching, leading a team of teaching assistants, being one of the representatives of the department by doing public lectures, and (incidentally) earning more than most of the lecturers. In the end, I decided they were right about the Ph.D. thing. I learned enough in my years there to figure out that I didn't have the stomach for academic politics.