As a university student in my last year of undergrad, I've been tempted to go work as a software engineer, even though I'm interested in doing research. The opportunity cost just seems too large to give up. Working as a SWE will allow me to earn a massive income in my 20s, during which I have few defendants and a lot of leisure time. While many of my peers are planning to do graduate school right away, I feel like my quality of life would simply be better by going to work in industry right now.
With that said, I still love learning and diving deeply into topics like math and the history of science. I hope that I can one day retire off my savings as a SWE and return to graduate school (maybe in my late 30s or 40s). Has anyone done this before? Is there a stigma against graduate students (both Masters and PhD) who are not in their 20s?
Be aware that the meme that any developer with a pulse can make so much money they can retire in their 30s plays out very rarely. (ADDED: And if you're in that top tiny percent of success, will you really just drop out?) That said, you'll almost certainly make more money as an SWE than in academia.
I do know someone who got a PhD in their early 40s or so in a pause from tech and is back in tech. I gather they thought it "OK" but basically are back doing the same thing in industry as before.
I think about it like this. Software Engineering is still a damn hard industry to break into AND be successful in, but that barrier is masked by the democratization of tools and resources.
I've had many friends ask he how they can get into SWE, they see me, a 20 something, making more than their parents make. I used to give the advice "anyone can do it, you just have to practice". I've since stopped giving that exact advice.
My advice now is "you can do it, but it's going to take at least 2-4 years of almost complete dedication". The disconnect for all my friends is I think, is none of them see what I do on a daily basis. Coding, coding, more coding, reading articles about coding, and more coding.
I realized the only reason it was so "easy" for me is that I really liked it, so spending hours in front of a screen learning all this wasn't a drain on me like it would be on other people. Looking back it was by no means easy, and you have to keep working on it. I don't put in the insane hours i used to in my early 20's, but my Github history still has commits every single day except for maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Well, it's not just about excelling. But presumably winning the startup lottery or hitting the fast-track at a handful of companies in specific locations. (Or becoming an exec at a variety of companies but that's presumably not a path that's being contemplated here.) Most competent engineers make respectable salaries relative to the US population as a whole but they're not retiring at 40.
Why do you associate learning and diving deeply into topics exclusively with research? A phd program will only require you to dive deeply into your topic of research. You can get very far in many fields by reading through relevant texts and sci-hub papers.
In addition, even though their is a dearth of theoretical experience in industry, at FAANGs and similar you will find opportunities to learn a lot in areas such as systems design, networking, and machine learning from senior/principal engineers who are as savvy as professors, albeit with a practical lean.
Even the hands on aspect of a phd can be done on your own time with a little know how and income, see applied science[0] on youtube. Full time engineer who often tinkers and replicates scientific publications in his garage in his free time.
The issue with software developers is that in some places there was no requirement to finish uni to work. Though, I would advise to finish studies asap, as later you won't have that much energy to share among work, relations, family, health and studies.
I am planning to finish my course after a very long gap in my 40s. Not sure if I need to, but for the sake of finalizing it, so it does not bother me anymore. The long gap seems to bother my university at my home country more than it should bother me and they have still the same irritating procedures in place that I do not like... but why should others care about how you spend YOUR money and time?
With that said, I still love learning and diving deeply into topics like math and the history of science. I hope that I can one day retire off my savings as a SWE and return to graduate school (maybe in my late 30s or 40s). Has anyone done this before? Is there a stigma against graduate students (both Masters and PhD) who are not in their 20s?