Rto

I have 5 YOE as a full stack dev. I currently make 100k in a LCOL area, hybrid (once every other week in office). I’m at a private company that is in a dying field. The work itself is fine, but I foresee maybe another decade, if that, before it just fizzles out. Not a lot of mentorship in my time here, and all devs started in this company so definitely some intellectual inbreeding, if you will. I have an offer from a national lab. It’s for $90k and going into the office every day (30m drive), but I would be in a very stable org. I’d work on more interesting things on a very senior-heavy team, so plenty of mentorship. I’d have good benefits and educational assistance, so I could take benefit of that. Tell me if I’m crazy for wanting to accept. Parts of me really like the idea of having a stable place to ride out the storm of AI, let whatever happens shake out, and if worst comes to worst, I’d be in the best place possible for it. I could cross train and do something else if need be. I’d become a better developer due to the work environment/team, and RTO might do me well for enforcing structure/social exposure, as opposed to the last 5 years of basically fully remote. It might be a net positive as far as life enjoyment. It would feel good to contribute to science and I’d have the opportunity to transition to HPC work later, if I wanted. Then there’s the alternative. Stay where I am. Study up, and just put all of my attention on getting a better paying remote job in the next year or two. I stop being afraid of the doom and gloom of this current market and make the riskier moves. What are your thoughts?