My field is Statistics & Machine Learning
I have come to know that job prospects in academia are really (really) bad. Of course, it is discipline-specific, but it did discourage me from pursuing a PhD, not necessarily because of the imposter syndrome. It could be because of my initial expectation that I would stay in academia after getting a PhD.
Eventually, I decided that I would still pursue a PhD as it's still useful for me, but after getting the degree, I would work in industry instead of academia. At least, in my field, having a PhD will open many doors (e.g. data scientists). I still enjoy doing research (developing models and algorithms) and teaching mathematics. It is just that I think it's not a good idea for me to stay in academia after graduation. Therefore, I will also prepare myself for industry job market.
Is it a problem if I start my PhD with no intention of being an academic after graduation?