It's more than I make, and I own a house! The idea that someone could be a big football fan, but would refuse to take a job making less than the equivalent of that magic $250k a year seems like such a misalignment* of values. I agree that you see it a lot on HN, and elsewhere.

* (pun not intended, but sort of proud of it now)

Of all the ML/AI researchers I know (20+), none of them are football fans. I suppose it could happen but I have not seen it.

I wore their away kit for Halloween this year :D

But I suspect they're just like all the others -- looking for credentialling where it doesn't yet exist.

[Guess we'll find out... not holding my breath for what would be a dream for us both]

You must not know any Indian researchers then. Almost every one I know supports a football club

Huh, I do not. I guess most of the people I know in this space I knew prior to 2015 and the field was not as widely popular back then.