Nineteen Year Old Seeking Career Advice

Hi. I always liked science so I went into physics and got a PhD. That led me to work in semiconductor manufacturing, then a national research organisation, some research for small private companies, and now I'm running a small super computer for researchers and helping them to use Linux and get their programs running. I have been able to pivot when needed because all of those fields have intersections and I could use skills and experience from one field in another. If your having problems deciding between fields then possibly shift to deciding based on future supervisors. Are there ones that stand out? Ask their previous students. I have never started a company but have run a small sole-trader business making some electronics. It went OK but not very profitable. One thing though in doing a startup - the younger your are, the less you have to lose :-) Best wishes, I'm sure you will do well in anything you try :-)

At that age, it's rather simple. Do whatever it takes to get the foot in the door at a FAANG company. Take whatever RSUs they award you and put them in the bank for 10 years. Get promoted, play the game and after ten or fifteen years, collect all the RSU's you've built up, cash them in and then retire somewhere cheap building out personal projects for the rest of your days to keep yourself engaged and learning (on your own dime).

If you want to do a startup have these things:

* $30,000-$40,000 in the bank. This provides flexibility without strings attached.

* Have an idea you are willing to work on and flesh out for a year before seeking funding. This will determine if the idea is important enough to you and moves you closer to MVP. If you don’t have an intense passion for the idea/product then it’s just a fundraising con job.

* Find one or two cofounders. If you are the builder then find a finance guy who can make projections, do all the accounting, understands business taxes and so forth. You will probably also want an operations guy who keeps the lights on at night, understands all the relevant regulations, and knows all the right people in government and industry.

* If the start up fails then you are just unemployed. That’s not something to worry about. I would worry more about the lost and unrecovered personal assets, financial liabilities, and any legal liabilities. Just trying to shield yourself from much of that risk by making proper informed decisions up front.

* If you are independently wealthy enough to piss away cash into the wind, like a trust fund baby, then do whatever you want. Otherwise, have a good idea first. You will know it when you have it because it does something nobody else can, but it won’t be obvious to anyone else.

* In the meantime just get smart: objective, empathetic, good with people, well educated, well read, well rounded, solid with management of both people and assets. I see a lot of stupid and ignorant shit in comments on HN. Learn to really recognize that stupid shit in yourself and others to ward off risk from bad decisions.

Learn as much math as you can stand in college. No matter what you end up doing down the line this will pay off well. A math minor is an excellent addition to e.g. an electrical engineering degree (I speak from exxperience here).

Read https://80000hours.org/ . Even if you have no intention of doing EA-type stuff, their career advice is unparalleled for a generalist, ambitious audience.

>Some advice I've seriously considered is just reading and learning as much as possible then starting a company when I come across an opportunity.

Apply for 100 jobs first after you graduate and then see how you feel about this idea. If, after those 100, you don't find anything that feels like a good fit, revisit this plan. (Chances are the job descriptions themselves for what you apply for will help massively in steering what kind of startup you tackle.)

>[W]hat do I do if the startup fails?

Assuming you have actually applied for those jobs and made a serious effort at the startup, you should now have enough experience to apply for a further 100 jobs and have greater success. The great thing about life is this is an iterated game and you can just keep alternating between these things until you find your productive niche in the economy.

>[I]s it worth it to go to graduate school or medical school? How do I decide?

From a purely financial standpoint, usually not. From a career standpoint, given that you are very undecided at the current time, I would still say no. Wait until you find a niche you can really sink your teeth into in the actual world before you revisit this idea.

Remember: The Georgia Tech online master's in CS is $7000 flat, chump change for anyone with a full time job, and other degrees are becoming more flexible and even cheaper. If you really don't feel like even saving up that much you can drop out of most PhD programs, which are fully funded, after 2 years and recieve an "honorary" master's degree out of them.

Not sure why this is flagged. In any case, I wouldn’t try to over optimize for anything right now. If you find those various things interesting, then it means that there isn’t one of them that is the answer that you’re missing out on.

I would just look into various jobs in the industries you’re interested in. Many times the academic subject doesn’t line up with what you’ll actually do as a job.

Also realize that your interests and personality will change over time, so the most important thing is to just “head in the right direction” and not have a master plan for the next forty years of your life.

Its my understanding that you're likely to work in 3 or more areas across your life, one of which might be related to the thing you get a degree in. The idea of going to school and working in that field for the rest of your life didn't even last through the Baby boom. Don't worry too much about making the right decision for specialization now. Electives exist to let you broaden your education beyond that.

It's my belief that the most valuable thing is to know at least 2 unrelated things, and specialize at that intersection. For example, if you know electronics and computer science, and have a bit of experience in manufacturing (work in a job shop for a summer, and you'll learn exactly why we have machines still running MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows 98 in the world) you'll be quite valuable to some.

I could be wrong, seek a wide variety of sources of knowledge, and cross check them, you'll be ok.

I think at this stage I would look to major in something that interests you and give you a degree you can immediately apply upon graduation (e.g. computer science) but take all the pre-med classes to keep that option open. But also, talk to people in the field, find out what they like/don't like and if they had to do it all over again, what they would do.d In the end though, it's really hard to optimize any given career path so don't put too much pressure upon yourself if you feel like you don't have a clear idea of what you want to do, just keep exploring as much as you can. As for what to do if your startup fails, you would either start another or get a job.

Space. In whatever shape or form space industry/ travel/ communication/ whatever is the current rapidly growing market.

https://www.spacefoundation.org/2024/07/18/the-space-report-...

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/aerospace-and-defense/ou...

I began my career in 1968. I saw a great many changes in what I did. The word careen refers to things like a cannonball bouncing in unpredictable ways through a battlefield. It's with good reason it resembles the word career.

If you are inclined toward tech, you might study both programming and a field in which it might be applied. This would increase your employment options. Programming and business administration would be an example.

Bear in mind that you will probably go back to school some as your career evolves. In this unstable and rapidly evolving word, maximizing your options is good.

Good luck!

no one can reliably predict the future so it's anyone's guess which field will be the most remunerative (if that's your aim), but my recommendation is that you narrow down your choices and pick field that you like - but not one you enjoy. the ones you enjoy should be for hobbies, things that you can do for fun or to destress/relax. not saying you cant make those into a side gig if you want but I personally wouldnt recommend it.

trust me, the last thing you want is to end up loathing your career.

My opinion is that it's good not to have a vision for your career yet. The world is rapidly changing and this is an online learning problem. Keeping trying things and seeing what you like. Continue learning things.

On the practical side consider joining a random engineering project team that interests you (IGem for example). Get practice building things with people in a welcoming environment.

You can have many careers over your life.

The option of medical school is on your list. If you want to impact others, and contribute to society, working as an MD is hard to beat. Also hard to do with the schooling commitment.

There is no right answer. You are doing the right thing by thinking about it.

I wish you well.

Apply to internships to figure out what you really like. Enjoying a subject in college is very different from enjoying a job related to that subject.

Chemistry is my own path-not-taken. Plenty of room at the bottom.

That's something of an impossible question until you can clearly define what your life goals or tendencies might be. Of course they change over time, but you have to start somewhere. :)

Do you want to be wealthy at any cost (eg family life etc), or comfortable with a good life work balance? Or maybe adventurous, high risk? Or low risk? Three list goes on.

There's no simple answer, but I would start by trying to give your question this kind of context.

Right now the world is going through a huge transition as you know. And nobody knows how it's going to pan out. High risk life strategies will inevitably involve tech in some form, low risk will more likely involve artisanal skills or small town value options (eg a vet?).

Good luck.

> what do I do if ...

> is it worth it to ...

> How do I decide?

All these are good questions, and you're already doing well by asking yourself these things.

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The first one is easier to answer. If , what you do is move on. You re-evaluate your circumstances, and go try something else. I mean, there's no other way. The alternative is planning something like "If this fails, I'll just become stuck and wither away", which you don't even need anyone to tell you it's obviously absurd.

Many things can -and probably will- fail. We can't know the future and you cannot do much about it anyway.

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Now, the second question is harder to answer. Personally, I would say that education is always worth it, in itself. But then again one particular form of it -i.e. going to this school or choosing those studies- may or may not be so.

But consider that you'll also play a significant role in "making it worth it". The same school, courses, the same class, can be different for different people. I can only say this: If you choose something that needs a substantial investment in money and time, make sure you also invest your best effort on it. Don't do it half-arsed. If you're not convinced and you won't work hard to get the best you can from that education, then don't do it.

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Finally, how to decide. Who knows?

A guy I know can spend even a month or two researching on which trousers to buy. Another one I know just goes in the shop, looks at a couple or three of them, and just picks up whatever he decides in a few minutes. And, being honest, I can't say either of them ends up making a better decision.

Probably it's a balance. It seems like a good idea to think about important decisions that can -to some extent- shape your future, of course. But it also seems like a good idea not to overthink it.

If you want to, you could apply a somewhat organized system. Like making a list of the various options you consider, and writing down pros and cons for each of them, and scoring them with various criteria -objective and subjective-. Note though that this will not guarantee making a good decision, because nothing does. But it can help.

Also consider, when making a decision, that it may not mean choosing only one option and discarding the rest. Sometimes you can choose more than one. Other times you can choose one and later in life turn to a different one.

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More in general, I'll add that you're still young and you have time to try things. Don't worry so much about having all your life outlined now. Try some stuff, re-evaluate, correct and you will slowly figure it out.

Why is this flagged