You can probably buy a more fulfilling job with a lower salary.
My first job out of college was working as a programmer in a university research lab. It paid a lot less than working in industry, but was incredibly fun and fulfilling.
The things I got in exchange for the low salary were a ton of autonomy, interesting work to do, the knowledge that my work had value, direct contact with my users, and a relaxed environment surrounded by smart people doing interesting work. A grad school environment, without the stress of publish-or-perish.
We did publish a paper on our software, and asked anyone who used the software to cite the paper in their publications. That paper has thousands of citations now.
This was in the 1990s and I'm sure the compensation penalty for this kind of work is even greater now. The caveat here is that I was young and single, with no family to support, in a city with a low cost of living, and I was very happy living a low-rent, quasi-bohemian lifestyle. But I wouldn't trade that experience for more money now, even considering the compounded investment returns I've missed out on.
My first job out of college was working as a programmer in a university research lab. It paid a lot less than working in industry, but was incredibly fun and fulfilling.
The things I got in exchange for the low salary were a ton of autonomy, interesting work to do, the knowledge that my work had value, direct contact with my users, and a relaxed environment surrounded by smart people doing interesting work. A grad school environment, without the stress of publish-or-perish.
We did publish a paper on our software, and asked anyone who used the software to cite the paper in their publications. That paper has thousands of citations now.
This was in the 1990s and I'm sure the compensation penalty for this kind of work is even greater now. The caveat here is that I was young and single, with no family to support, in a city with a low cost of living, and I was very happy living a low-rent, quasi-bohemian lifestyle. But I wouldn't trade that experience for more money now, even considering the compounded investment returns I've missed out on.