system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How do I know if I'm cut out to pursue a PhD or be a professor? Is it just something you know? If I'm not in graduate school by age 25 am I screwed?

Asking because every tenured professor I've talked to about this say they applied on a whim and just got the job, eventually got tenure and the rest was history. Every tenured professor I've talked to about this also happened to be either a mad genius or so charming it didn't matter. 

I am neither a genius nor charming but I'm hoping charm can be learned. I'm not sure if I'm thinking about graduate school for the wrong reasons, but when I was in undergrad I always thought I'd go directly into the industry, and now that I'm out I really miss writing research papers and I'm looking for pretty much every opportunity to do so. I'd like to continue writing research papers for the rest of my life if possible. My field is CS but I'm looking to get more into embedded systems and logic based philosophy. 

What can I do to prepare myself for this kind of thing? Is there a way to get "the professor personality" or is that something you're born with? How much of this has to do with being a genius and how much has to do with making friends? I'm capable of working in industry but I'd rather not do this forever if I'm not going to be able to eventually get into research.
gpt
Times have changed. Talk to assistant professors or even young associates. It's not a whim these days and states aren't pouring money into education.  Getting a tenure track position is like pushing on a string. 

25-30 is a good time to start grad school.  Later and you face problems of funding - it's hard to live like you are in your 20s when you are mid 30. Much younger and you may be missing out on trying other things first. But age isn't a big issue in either case. 

I don't see anything wrong with grad school without being a professor as your goal. But it's value will largely be in personal knowledge, not skills.  At least in philosophy. There is still plenty you can do with that phd, but dollar for dollar it's not the biggest return. That's ok.  Do what you love.