Part of the “appeal” of some of these tech areas is the supposed status of working on something that is perceived to be hard. But then people get into them and realize that, unless you’re the ones doing the actual research (which itself is frequently a slog in a different way), for most part the day-to-day is the same as anywhere else: occasionally solving small challenges amidst a lot of “boring” work and maintenance. Some “cool” tech alone is not what makes a job fulfilling over any appreciable timespan.