Got a PhD in Europe and later moved to the US for postdoc, then visiting asst. prof. then tenure-track asst. prof. All of these were very positive experiences, teaching- and research- wise.

I switched to industry while in 3rd tenure-track year and moved back to Europe, though the topic is the same (nonlinear discrete optimization). Most of the work is software development.

Enjoying a better paycheck and working 9to5 Mon-Fri (rarely had a non-work evening/weekend while in academia) but the research is still great and I get to publish articles and go to conferences. Miss teaching a lot and clearly I can't pick my own research topics, but the switch was definitely worth it.