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I am currently working in a telecom R&D company.But I am very much interested towards quantum mechanics domain of physics. But currently I don't have the scope of doing anything about it. I need to support my family also so a job with good scale also important. But If I get any fellowship which can give me money I can do this R&D job in quantum mechanics domain with interest. Currently I just watch the youtube video tutorials to learn quantum mechanics from University of Yale and Univ of Stanford and wherever its applicable. I have following questions,

  1. Is it possible to get some achievement without any real lab work in this domain? Means like doing theoretically?
  2. Is there any institute which encourage such type of research with fare amount of pay?
  3. Although I have good knowledge in physics and Mathematics due to financial condition I could not went into research domain in this area and I joined the different company. I am 29yrs old now. Is it a good idea to switch into this domain of research at this age?

Please advise...

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This sort of thing is not really on topic here - it's not actually about physics, but rather about career advice. Sometimes we allow these sorts of questions but they have to be generally useful. I'm not sure if this fits those qualifications. I'll wait to see what the community thinks, and perhaps it can be reopened based on other people's input. – David Zaslavsky♦ Oct 30 '11 at 7:09
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Let's be realistic: You're employed by a Telecom R&D company because you're productive and therefore get paid. Why should anyone pay you to learn quantum mechanics? I think your best route would be to buy a good book to start with, such as that by Griffiths, work through all the problems so you know it inside out. Then move to an advanced one, doing the same for that, then publishing some papers of your own. How long this takes depends upon how much time you put aside but you could do it in 10 years making you 39 and an expert in quantum mechanics - but probably divorced from your wife. – Larry Harson Oct 30 '11 at 13:23

closed as off topic by David Zaslavsky♦ Oct 30 '11 at 7:05

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