[darrellsilver]

Agreed. There's a lot of skill in picking a job, much of which isn't indicative of your skills once in the job. IMO this often leads to people getting pigeonholed into specific positions if they don't happen upon the right opportunity or otherwise aren't inclined or encouraged to experiment or take more risks.

It's easier early in your career to try different jobs, and when you're younger the world is generally more accepting of letting you try new things.

What I love about this NYT article is that I imagine 6 years ago how it would have sped my departure (3 years ago) as a programmer on Wall St at a HF / quant fund.