I dropped out of my PhD as soon as I felt it was clear I wasn't on trajectory to land in a tenure track role. It was a stressful and confusing time in my life and not an easy decision, but one based on a clear-eyed view of the economic realities ahead. I don't understand why people soldier on for literal decades in a job when there is no hope of ever gaining reasonable pay, benefits, or recognition. On an hourly-adjusted basis many of these people would be financially better off doing just about anything else.
I simply don't understand what is going to happen to all of the PhD students that I saw when I was in university. I managed to escape the PhD trap and find software engineering but I was extremely lucky. Had I gone to any other school I probably would not be anywhere near as fortunate.
That being said, I worry about the people who go to PhD programs just because that's what they are "supposed to do" or because they just don't know what else to do. Especially the ones who lack social skills or lack "connections". Many of my friends from college fall in to this category.
I don't even want to think about the people in the above category who get a PhD at a "non-target" school.
