I’m a software engineer with a background in AI systems, DevOps, Spring Boot, Angular the full stack kind of profile. I graduated and have been job hunting for 7 months with no luck. The market is brutal right now. I’ve been offered a PhD thesis that genuinely looks interesting it’s on XAI (explainable AI) for medical imaging, multimodal systems, the kind of work that actually feels meaningful. But here’s the problem: it’s unpaid. In my country, PhD students don’t get stipends. And I’m already 26, already feeling the pressure of not having started a career yet. Part of me feels like I’m too old for this. Another part says that’s complete nonsense. Well I get a license to teach in college meanwhile with decent to average salary. The rational side of me says: no income + no guaranteed job after = bad move. The other side says: you’ve been applying for 7 months anyway, you’d be building real expertise, and AI/XAI skills are genuinely rare. Has anyone been in this situation? Did you take the PhD and regret it, or did it open doors the job market never would have? Is 26 actually “too old” or am I just catastrophizing? Genuinely torn and would love some perspective. submitted by /u/Ok-Guidance9730
Originally posted by u/Ok-Guidance9730 on r/ArtificialInteligence