I initially wanted to become a university professor, so I needed the PhD. But there are no open positions, most professors are in their early 50s and won’t retire anytime soon, plus I hated my supervisor because no matter how hard I tried he would try to persuade me to write the thesis that he wanted (which is the same thesis as someone else before me). I lost my passion and gave up.

Maybe one day I’ll give it another go. But if you’re really good at what you do, universities can get you under a guest lecturer contract. So it’s a bit pointless given how there are ways to bypass the hierarchies. Might as well get good at what I do.