Should one continue their journey on the academic path if they love their field of study and research but are not proficient at it?
Not being able to do certain things is no reason to leave the field. Instead, the student could focus on what they can do, not on what they cannot do. In fact, it is often the people that &quot;lack&quot; the &quot;advanced&quot; knowledge who come up with creative ideas and new approaches that are different from everybody else.
And if it turns out that the student needs fancy new algorithms anyway: all the others are doing that already and it can take as little as a phone call to start a collaboration. Also, the &quot;fancy algorithms&quot; may be in fashion now, but nobody knows what happens in five or ten years.
Of course there is no reason for the student to stay in the field if it does not make them happy. Changing field or changing from academia to the private sector are not as hard as people often assume. There are plenty of interesting jobs outside of academia and it should not be seen as a failure to leave the academic world.