I suppose it's arguable that any job is better than no job. You have to at least break even or be dependent. Fun, is also relative. There are many who would much rather deal with a hangry crowd that spend time with other people's children.

As far as it being a decent enough living, again, not with student loans over your head, not if you want to live independently, and not if you want to have kids or a car. I'd be curious to know where this magical place is where $18k a year covers all that.

You also be halfway to 30 is you got this job straight out of school and you rushed through. Still young, but nearly a decade into your potential earning years to be making such a small pittance for such hard earned and expensive to achieve expertise. You'd have a much harder time getting to the point where you can start to grow real wealth. With the way compounding interest works, those years go by fast. Faster than most young people realize.