[syzarian]

I quit my math Ph.D. degree program during the dissertation stage. Completed all coursework and realized that I did not care about the problem I was working on.

It’s hard to find decent jobs in academia and if you do find a tenure track job it takes a long time before you are up for tenure. Just wasn’t worth it to me. The sunk cost fallacy is hard to overcome sometimes but one should not worry that quitting means you wasted time. Worry about wasting more time. Don’t do things because dad might otherwise be disappointed.

For me, quitting was the right thing to do.

[sdfgdfghj]

thanks, that's helpful! Did you at any point have any barriers in terms of career development because you didn't have that title?

[syzarian]

I did not. I teach at a community college. Having a Ph.D. probably would have hurt me had I gone into private industry as a programmer. So I have been told.