A few words of caution from a recent Ph.D. graduate: a big problem you will face if you do this is the all-or-nothing nature of the degree. If you are five years in, you will put up with a huge amount of abuse to avoid throwing away that time. Departments and your advisor know this - they will abuse you in lots of ways (stiffing you on reimbursements, making you teach constantly, etc.) because you are stuck - if you leave, you will be perceived as having failed and derive little career benefit from those years of your life. I would also caution that the author&#x27;s good outcome (assistant professorship at a top tier school, straight out of grad school), would be considered impossibly unlikely in my field, chemistry. I can&#x27;t speak to CS though.