Young, overqualified, depressed and in desperate need of career advice

First of all, I hate this reddit trope, but consider therapy.

Second, natural sciences hard evolved into a bit of a pyramid scheme over the past couple decades. A group of top researchers choose how a field develops, while an army of undergrads, grad students and post-docs works for poverty wages in order to bring projects to fruition. Too many smart people are competing for too few research dollars and the end result is that a lot of promising scientists are chewed up and spat out by the system.

Look at working in other fields, anything. Quitting science is not a reflection on your ability as a scientist. You can always come back in the future, but it will refresh your perspective on the field and realize there are other opportunities out there. There is a reason Kary Mullis left the field for two years after his PhD.

/r/careeradvice Thread