I am a 2nd year Computer science PhD student who is at a crossroads in regards of what should I do with my career.
My research has been on accelerating astrophysical codes. I have generally enjoyed it and learned a lot about simulations, but I don't feel code optimization is what I want to spend the rest of my career. More I read about what applied math groups do with numerical pdes and different discretization schemes the more I am interested in them.
As some context I am 22 years-old, turning 23 this year, at the moment and feel like I somewhat rushed into my current PhD since it was the easiest/most logical choice at the moment.
I developed a passion for math early which faded away for a time during which I was doing relatively unwell. Now the interest and passion seems to be coming back, especially that I see interesting applications of it. So what should I do? Dropping the PhD is madness financially and I would leave my colleagues in a an unfair position and most likely burn some bridges.
Getting a second masters and a PhD would mean I would be in school for the next 8-10 years: safe to say not the safest bet financially. At the same time I have not crossed it out of my mind since I can't see myself doing something I lack the passion for. At the same time hard to see how would I break into the more math heavy simulation areas without the appropriate background. I have read career switchs like mine are usually encouraged to be done via postdocs but again who is going to take me without the appropriate background.
Hopefully my question is not too of topic for this forum: This is a question that is now heavy on my mind and I would greatly appreciate any answers.
