I recently comoderated a discussion session on "academia vs. industry" at a Women in STEM Mentorship Program event, and it was very interesting to think back my days at Stanford EE MS/PhD program and my struggle with PhD that led to my leave and my current job as a software engineer.
My comoderator Danielle is a very accomplished physics PhD graduate, worked in industry at Lockhead Martin, and went on to run her own company now. She brought a lot of great perspectives to the table from her path in both academia and industry, which compliments mine with an earlier transition to industry.