> "Fortunately having an unchallenging job can provide lots of time and energy for research and side projects that can lead to jumping into more interesting work."

That's not always true.

It only works if the job is both easy and coming at a low enough pace that you can do it in a couple of hours and forget about it.

However, when the amount of work itself is overwhelming and the job is unchallenging, it works out the other way: it sweeps all your energy and leaves you burnt out at the end of the day. You get home and all you want to do is drink a couple of beers and watch a TV series until you're sleepy enough that you can go to bed and fall asleep, getting just enough sleep to be ready for more bullshit the next day.