I just finished a PhD in stats, and before that, studied computer science. I had planned to go back to industry to do software engineering or be a data scientist afterwards.
However, it seems that in the meantime, vibe coding has taken over the software industry and swallowed most data scientist roles. Few open positions, and the ones that do exist are just pushing a button instead of thinking and solving problems. Is this a correct assessment? Should I try to get back in or just find a new career? I am not too keen on staying in academia either.
Think the point is you can put aside the debate about when and if and just take it that all the likely alternative careers are in the same boat, whatever shape the boat is in. Especially if you’ve already done your education.
You might have more need to think on it if you are, say in high school or very early college. Then you might think on dramatically different paths based on risk or generally perceived risk.