<p>
Of the handful of successful people I know in the sciences:
The only one who succeeded in academia was a physicist who received tenure at a decent state university maybe 30 years ago.</p>
<p>A few received cushy jobs at private research companies and have worked there for decades. A few won the jobs lottery, but more common than that was that they were groomed into their position in some sort of arrangement where their PhD education was an extended apprenticeship working on the company’s work for 4-6 years. A lot of these people got there not because they were exceptional scientists, but because they had a gift for getting along with people. </p>
<p>Most of them took a different path, away from the sciences. Smart enough to eventually figure out that their science knowledge wasn’t going to get them employment. Family, some sort of business, anywhere else but science really.</p>
<p>In short: you’re not playing the odds.</p>