I'm just not sure that schooling will be worth the cost (in money, time, and disruption). Undergrad degrees aren't very valuable in astronomy, which is also a very small job market. Graduate degrees are significant, especially for academia (which is a big chunk of the astronomy jobs), but there are technicians, programmers, and tech support staff with work experience rather than degrees, who are making valuable contributions. Conversely, there are glass ceilings between faculty, tenured faculty, and everyone else, which complicates the budgeting and funding for collaborations (mostly under research grants).
In every field, it's hard to find good workers who are productive, pleasant to work with, enthusiastic, etc., but those are hard traits to measure. Instead, a college degree shows that you're smart enough to pass exams and navigate some bureaucracy.
If you can get a start somewhere that's a good fit for your talents, then (unless it's a toxic or dysfunctional workplace) you'd be valued and encouraged to grow into more advanced roles. Getting your foot in the door somewhere to get on-the-job experience is often better than book-learning. In some sense, that's also the whole point of grad school assistantships, to get practice with teaching, research, and paperwork, which are all skills useful in academia, industry, or government.
In an interview, maybe emphasize that you want out of a dull job with no advancement room, and that you want something productive, interesting, and good for humanity. They say you should focus on the positive, not bad-mouthing a job you hate. (Disclaimer: I've never actually gotten a job that I've interviewed for. As a temp, I got several offers to stay on. The one where I agreed to try it, for at least a year, turned into 28 years.)
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In every field, it's hard to find good workers who are productive, pleasant to work with, enthusiastic, etc., but those are hard traits to measure. Instead, a college degree shows that you're smart enough to pass exams and navigate some bureaucracy.
If you can get a start somewhere that's a good fit for your talents, then (unless it's a toxic or dysfunctional workplace) you'd be valued and encouraged to grow into more advanced roles. Getting your foot in the door somewhere to get on-the-job experience is often better than book-learning. In some sense, that's also the whole point of grad school assistantships, to get practice with teaching, research, and paperwork, which are all skills useful in academia, industry, or government.
In an interview, maybe emphasize that you want out of a dull job with no advancement room, and that you want something productive, interesting, and good for humanity. They say you should focus on the positive, not bad-mouthing a job you hate. (Disclaimer: I've never actually gotten a job that I've interviewed for. As a temp, I got several offers to stay on. The one where I agreed to try it, for at least a year, turned into 28 years.)