As a graduate student at the top department in my country and field, working for the top PIs, I absolutely would not recommend chemistry for most.

Most people will serve as expendable fodder, or graduate labor, to advance the career of some power hungry PI. So you need to at least work at a top-tier place for the best chances. Not to say you can't really enjoy other places or get a job. I'm talking about increasing your odds.

My field is absolutely cut-throat in terms of competition, people will gladly steal your work even within your own lab. The PIs don't care, they just want papers. Your milage may vary, I know a number within my department who seem pretty content, although we recently lost a graduate student to suicide. (Obviously it isn't clear why he did it, but I think it is worth pointing out. He worked so hard, work was his complete life.) It is hard to distinguish between genuine happiness and naivete. So in the short-run there are plenty of happy and sad people, but I want to see where we are in 10 or 20 years.

I've gone through some shit and at times really hate being here, but at other times I enjoy being here. It is a rollercoaster and I do not know where the ride will stop for me. It is far too early in my career to say. I can tell you I have sacrificed some of my best years and hours at the altar of science though, and I try to be realistic about the future: it looks pretty grim on average.

To the graduate students/PhDs reading this. Would you make the same choice again?

No, I could be happy doing a lot of things and probably become competent at any of them, there was no good reason I went into chemistry other than a thoughtless choice on my part.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of fun to it, but I try to be realistic about it. Maybe if I had a first author Science paper I would feel overly optimistic about it? Instead I'm doing about average for my department.

Were you aware of this general sentiment about graduate school and the chemistry job market before you went in? If not, why do you think that is?

I was aware it was grim, but after years of study it has become a lot more obvious to me where reality is and where people think it is. It is usually far worse than most people I've known thought it was.