Thinking about pivoting from physics to data science mid PhD I'm in my 3rd year of a condensed matter physics PhD and I'm increasingly feeling like academia isn't for me. The job market is brutal and I don't want to do 3 postdocs hoping for a tenure track position that might never come. I've been teaching myself Python/ML stuff on the side and honestly I find it more engaging than my actual research at this point. I'm debating whether to: 1. Finish the PhD and then transition to data science (2+ more years) 2. Master out now and start applying to DS roles 3. Try to pivot my dissertation topic toward something more computational/ML adjacent Has anyone here made this kind of switch? Was finishing the PhD worth it for industry roles?