Not sure if this is the right sub for this, but here goes. I am severely overworked and underpaid, and I'm wondering if anybody has any good recommendations.
I sorta bought into the mythology that “if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life.” I wanted to be a scientist, so I worked my ass off to become one. I have a STEM degree from an Ivy and an astrophysics PhD from a top 5 engineering school. Now I'm a professional scientist all right, but I work 70 hours a week, I'm constantly stressed about bills, I have no job security (contracts are a year long at a time and funding never guaranteed). I'm paid the equivalent of about $12 an hour for a 40 hour workweek, or about minimum wage considering the hours I actually have to work in real life to meet expectations.
To be honest I thought space was super cool as a kid, but that enthusiasm has been largely burnt out of me over the past decade of grueling work and living at the poverty line. I still do love space, but my days are basically just staring at a computer screen trying to get code to compile. I know there are other jobs that roughly match that day-to-day description, but that pay a lot better, have longer term security, and where you can actually go home after 40 hours. Living la vie boheme was fine before, but now I'm getting older and have started a family. I can't keep being food insecure and unable to comfortably afford a studio apartment when me and my wife start having kids.
I thought this might be the right subreddit to post this in because I think a lot of you like me have become disillusioned with the toxic “grindset,” or the idea that you should be expected to have zero work-life balance while also not being able to afford rent and groceries if it's your “passion.”
The alleged payoff is to work yourself to the bone your entire youth, for a one in a hundred shot at increasingly scarce tenure faculty jobs. So maybe when you're 40 or 50 you'll finally have a stable career with decent pay. I feel like I'm not quite in the same boat as a lot of other people here with tales of shitty bosses and mistreatment, in fact my direct supervisors have been awesome at every stage. But I'm still paid like shit and I'm pulling all my hair out wondering if I'll find another gig next year or how I will cope when my landlord raises my rent. I love science but I'm just. So. Tired.
Anyway, all this to say, has anybody with a STEM background managed to find easy-ish jobs that have good pay and good security? After all this shit I'm looking for highest pay for lowest effort. I think I'm realizing that there is no such thing as the capitalist fantasy that if you're passionate about something then it won't feel like work. Fuck that, it's still work. At this point I just want to punch in, punch out, and collect a fair wage. I never wanted to be rich (still don't), but I can't run on fumes forever.
Any pointers appreciated. In terms of ethics, I'm fine with basically anything that isn't finance or fossil fuels.
Cheers comrades.