[gtvwill]

"Most of my life I have had to work hard to create opportunities for myself, and open as many doors as possible. I was lucky to open quite a few."

But did you really? To me it reads like you got to the circle of doors at the start of your career, opened one (tech) and the ran down that hallway full pelt. You've got plenty of doors to open...but they are all in one narrow realm. Imho it sounds like you have a really narrow concept of what work/career is and what different jobs entail. Maybe take a year out and go do something completely different. Who knows maybe you like working in tech...but maybe you love hanging off the bough of a boat as it sidles along a dock to moor and your jumping over to tie it on 10x more than coding, your not gonna know if you have no exposure to the experience.

I took the opposite path, worked all kinds of jobs that aren't tech(mining, out at sea, movies). It helped me narrow down what I want...and firmly set in stone what I don't want. Maybe thats what you need? I dunno I find the concept of locking into one career especially early on incredibly daunting. You only have one life, imho you wanna try experience as many polar opposite things in it as possible to suss out what they are like before you lock into one. I couldn't think of anything worse than spending say 40 years in a career to discover on a whim that I enjoy something else more (I mean hell, I discovered I love stuff like concreting, who'd a thought shoveling sand for 8 hours and making concrete look like rocks was so much fun!?).

[mid-kid]

What you said here is a bit of a reality check to me, honestly. I'm in a similar situation as OP, where I took an interest in technology at a very early age, and am fairly competent with various things, to the point most of my family still thinks I do computer science despite having deliberately chosen to pursue a bachelor in Electrical Engineering, as I wanted to try "something else".

I'm aware some people go through various different careers to end up where they are, but my entire life I've just been sitting on the path laid out before me, making the occasional choice. Do I want geography as an optional course? Which of the bachelors from this list do I feel like trying today? That sort of thing. The available choices have always depended on how well I did in certain classes, and since I never really knew what I wanted to do after I graduated, I've never really tried going for specific combinations of grades so I could end up somewhere specific, nor tried looking outside for other things to do.

I genuinely don't know how other people do it. I'm not sure I really feel I have the energy and motivation to try a wide range of jobs, but even if I wanted to, I can't imagine how to even begin doing such things. I've been taught that careers are based on education and connections, and within that context, there's not as much radical mobility as you're describing.

[genmaicha123]

Quite a few interesting points you raised, thanks.

> opened one (tech) and the ran down that hallway full pelt Breaking into tech, however unexciting it sounds from one angle, can be challenging from another. I agree I could've done more browsing, but it wasn't a good idea back then. At this point it could be, I don't know. Agreed they are mostly in one narrow realm.

> took the opposite path, worked all kinds of jobs that aren't tech(mining, out at sea, movies). It helped me narrow down what I want If I were to do this, here are some questions that'd keep me up every night: * Can I support myself / dependents working this new job? * X years from now, when it's time to put a downpayment for a house, send my kid to school, or pay for my parents' care, will I regret spending X years jumping between these careers instead of cashing in insane tech salaries? * What is my exit criteria for this exercise? Do I just keep browsing careers that expose me to the edges of the space until I find something I like? Do I have a limited runway? What happens if I burn up my savings and don't find anything life changing? I'm curious how did you think about these?

Don't get me wrong – I am trashing my tech job a bit, but it still gets me the life in which my problems sound ridiculous to 99th percentile of people. Vast majority of other careers won't get me that imho. And writing this comment reminded me I value that a lot, so thanks!