Sounds like you’ve had lots of success tho, which I’m sure you’re proud of

Us that right out of grad school or after a few years. My salary has doubled since finishing grad school 8 years ago.

Soo engineer here. There is a good reason for that. I have met quite a few PhDs that can't make the transition from academics to work. I have probably watched 5 million dollars worth of gear get destroyed over the years due to new grad PhDs with our common sense. Some you can throw in a padded room to feed math to and get some theories that can be refined, some become real assets to your team and an over all force multiplier, others just go back to acidemia to teach new PhDs without common sense.

PhD is the shortcut to success but that doesn't mean you still don't have to walk the path. You just start one rung up the ladder and you get promoted in half the time( or meet experience requirements faster when applying for new jobs).

I ll give you children when you find me on my fertile days..I promise. We don't even need that much money tbh just a good venue