Still my favorite essay I've ever read on the experience of grad school, five years after publication. Of course I've never been to grad school, although if I were to go it'd be in physics (try reading Anathem without wanting to drop everything and get a PhD in physics afterward, I challenge you).
I've spent the past decade or so living frugally & working in big tech. I now have enough saved up that I can conceivably work on a couple contracts a year then spend the rest of the time working on whatever I want. I think I know enough to do useful, interesting things in computer science without going to grad school. So that's one path I can take. The other would be to go to grad school for physics, but able to maintain greater material comfort than the author of this piece - and having already made peace with the end of a burning desire to shake the world. I wonder whether those two things would make a difference to my experience.
Raptor conservancy. It's often cold and wet (an outdoor job) and often menial (someone has to clean the projectile poop) and I'm a newbie where the young people are my mentors. And I don't get paid (the previous 30 years are funding this).
But the experience, on a summer evening, in the rolling countryside, of a Peregrine Falcon diving at 100mph and hurtling right past you is unbeatable.
I know, some people have it good and "never work a day in their life". I would probably write software when I retire, but it would be personal projects.
Unless a degree in physics would be useful on your current path in Big Tech, I'd recommend staying in your current career and keeping physics as a passionate hobby.
It is not at all necessary to go to graduate school to immerse yourself in physics. A Deepdyve subscription will expose most of the literature.
Do as they do in England, "read" physics. It is a never ending joy for me.
Having to do physics to earn a living from it diminishes the joy, because you have to do what others want you to do and not follow your own course.
"Still my favorite essay I've ever read on the experience of grad school, five years after publication."
Not all grad school is like this. It varies greatly by subjects and also by degree level. For example, a Master's degree can be easily attainable through night school while working. Education PhDs have their own challenges, but it usually doesn't resemble the types of questions and struggles the author describes about physics.
I've spent the past decade or so living frugally & working in big tech. I now have enough saved up that I can conceivably work on a couple contracts a year then spend the rest of the time working on whatever I want. I think I know enough to do useful, interesting things in computer science without going to grad school. So that's one path I can take. The other would be to go to grad school for physics, but able to maintain greater material comfort than the author of this piece - and having already made peace with the end of a burning desire to shake the world. I wonder whether those two things would make a difference to my experience.