I was in a PhD program for Physics, then left it for Operations Research (where I will likely get a masters then exit, but may stick around for the PhD). In some sense that is the field of applied rationality, so you might want to check it out (it may be called Industrial Engineering where you are).
Did I feel locked in? A little. I was leery about committing to a research group for several years, as I hadn’t come across any groups that I was really interested in or ideas I really wanted to pursue. But I always had very broad interests (I have programming skills, employment experience, finance knowledge, and know a fair amount about math), and so while I eventually realized I was sticking with my plans out of inertia I had several other options that I was ready to jump ship for.
I ended up deciding on OR rather than economics much for the same reason I decided on physics over economics- economics is what I get most fired up about (well, efficiency in general, but it’s more fun to argue than do), but I wanted to make something besides policy papers. I was already planning to take my physics degree and do industrial research / invent something / go into consulting, and so I decided to change my “invent something” desire from physical things to software and scrap the industrial research plan in order to get into consulting in 2 years rather than 5-6.
You may want to look at being an actuary. They draw a rather significant income using skills you have most likely already developed.
Becoming an actuary is something that I’ve looked into in the past. I was turned off by the various certifications that I didn’t understand, and the fact that I have essentially zero finance knowledge.
But when I looked at the actuarial exams, I was like “word problems?! HELLS YES!” so it’s definitely something that is on my radar.
I was in a PhD program for Physics, then left it for Operations Research (where I will likely get a masters then exit, but may stick around for the PhD). In some sense that is the field of applied rationality, so you might want to check it out (it may be called Industrial Engineering where you are).
Did I feel locked in? A little. I was leery about committing to a research group for several years, as I hadn’t come across any groups that I was really interested in or ideas I really wanted to pursue. But I always had very broad interests (I have programming skills, employment experience, finance knowledge, and know a fair amount about math), and so while I eventually realized I was sticking with my plans out of inertia I had several other options that I was ready to jump ship for.
I ended up deciding on OR rather than economics much for the same reason I decided on physics over economics- economics is what I get most fired up about (well, efficiency in general, but it’s more fun to argue than do), but I wanted to make something besides policy papers. I was already planning to take my physics degree and do industrial research / invent something / go into consulting, and so I decided to change my “invent something” desire from physical things to software and scrap the industrial research plan in order to get into consulting in 2 years rather than 5-6.
You may want to look at being an actuary. They draw a rather significant income using skills you have most likely already developed.
Becoming an actuary is something that I’ve looked into in the past. I was turned off by the various certifications that I didn’t understand, and the fact that I have essentially zero finance knowledge.
But when I looked at the actuarial exams, I was like “word problems?! HELLS YES!” so it’s definitely something that is on my radar.