[_8j50]

Depends on the 16 year old. Making money should be a priority for everyone who isn't rich. Be well enough to take care of yourself before you pursue careers that have no financial benefit.

But that said, you can get paid good enough for most desires and inclinations you have.

But taking a step back here, what I have seen with kids that age is either they already have a passion or you need to shove them very hard towards different directions and see what they like. They're usually lacking in exposure. Maybe they'll like coding and computer stuff but they have no exposure. At that age I was barely fostering a coding hobby but haven't really gotten into infosec myself. Down the road I tried different things and I was very surprised at what I liked and did not like. I apparently don't have a fear of heights (scary but I can manage) and I hate long-haul trucking.

But my standing advice is to get a degree in something practical no matter what.

If they lean to technical stuff have them pursue EE, social justice? Law or languages and literature, like to work with hands? Mechanical engineering, medicine? RN

If you are an EE grad for example it is not hard to get into coding, IT or security. Or manufacturing and designing hardware, and anything with electrons. Plan to get two degrees, one before you're 23 and another before 30 after you figured out what you really like.