The future.. (Score 1)

I am in somewhat of the same boat, but try to keep up with current ide's, pls, etc, so that I have more to use when I get out. Keep in mind if you don't do it now, most likely you'll never go back and do it (it's easy to stay poor. Once you start making money, it's tough to go back). You might also want to think about the future. Even if you don't want to stay in academia now, you can retire from the tech world early and get a job at a teaching university if you have a phd. It'll give you some job variety in life.