Recent college grad here. I have been working a soul sucking corporate job for 5 years now and starting to feel burnout. I work between 12-15 hours a day, of which 6-7 hours are filled with the proverbial “meetings which could have been phone calls”. I also work 6 days a week.
For me the worst part about working in corporate has been the people element of it, not necessarily the work conditions. From the constant “coordination” meetings to having to keep up a friendly veneer day to day with managers and coworkers who I know don’t care and just want to use me for their own goals…I would much prefer a job where everyone just leaves me alone and I produce work solo. Or at least one where I am not constantly required to associate with large groups of people whom I don’t care about. I don’t mind specific bursts of self-directed social interaction (oftentimes enjoy it). I just don’t like when my entire livelihood and survival completely depends on the day to day perception of me by 30 people from 6 different departments…
Recently I was given the opportunity to do a PhD in a field which interests me. I would really appreciate some advice from someone experienced on whether PhD life would be a better fit?