I am not a cryptographer (though I do have knowledge in cryptography) and did not try to run an explicit cost-benefit analysis. Nevertheless, I think that being a researcher doing similar things to the other researchers in this field is not likely to be impactful (for various reasons, e.g., quantum resistant ciphers exist, while quantum computers [at scale] do not; and this research field is quite active so I don’t think there will be any shortage of solutions in the future). I think that it is possible (but not plausible) that one could come up with an alternative path within this field that would be impactful, but I don’t have any such ideas. Moreover, that would have to be a case-by-case analysis rather than an a priori cost-benefit analysis, so I am not sure carrying such an analysis would be helpful, and I would rather try to think of such alternative paths. (One alternative would be working on cryptography in the industry to earn-to-give. I actually think this is not a bad idea if one is a good fit.)
I am not a cryptographer (though I do have knowledge in cryptography) and did not try to run an explicit cost-benefit analysis. Nevertheless, I think that being a researcher doing similar things to the other researchers in this field is not likely to be impactful (for various reasons, e.g., quantum resistant ciphers exist, while quantum computers [at scale] do not; and this research field is quite active so I don’t think there will be any shortage of solutions in the future). I think that it is possible (but not plausible) that one could come up with an alternative path within this field that would be impactful, but I don’t have any such ideas. Moreover, that would have to be a case-by-case analysis rather than an a priori cost-benefit analysis, so I am not sure carrying such an analysis would be helpful, and I would rather try to think of such alternative paths. (One alternative would be working on cryptography in the industry to earn-to-give. I actually think this is not a bad idea if one is a good fit.)