tusselago

I'm considering leaving my career as a software developer and go back to school to study physics/astronomy, aiming for a PhD, because space. It's awesome. My question is this, how hard is it to get a job as an astronomer? I understand that there aren't that many astronomers out there, but are there ones that, say, unpack groceries at the local grocery store because there are even fewer jobs? (I'm thinking globally, don't really care where I work as long as I get to do something I love.)

Also, how valuable would my background in development be? My guess is that it can definitely come in handy?

Yeah that's kind of what I've been thinking; you can't really know too much about space!

One of the biggest "cons" on my pros- and cons-list is that going from working as a consultant/developer to a student will be "financially interesting"... And to give up a permanent job in this economy might be considered kind of stupid. But then again, spend the rest of my life doing something I've come to detest (used to love computers in my younger years) just because it's safe, or try my luck at something that have a somewhat high probability of letting me do something I might consider fun, but unsafe? This has basically been my internal debate for that last 12-18 months now..

Anyways, thanks for your reply! And best of luck with the flight and continued research!