You want to get rich, but aren't willing to invest in your social and technical skills? Good luck with that. If anybody's looking for a textbook definition for "lazy and entitled", the attitude implied by this question is as close as I've ever seen. Please keep in mind that I don't mean that as an insult.<p>Now, with that out of the way, I will say this: There's a pernicious myth in the industry that you need to be "brilliant" to create something valuable and successful. Which is bullshit. You just need to be competent, persistent, and extraordinarily lucky.<p>Here, in order, are the modern keys to wealth:<p>- <i></i>Know rich people.<i></i> Be someone they enjoy hanging out with. People want to work with people they like, so this greatly increases the odds they'll throw you a project or put you on their team. See: Balmer, Steve. (<i>NOTE:</i> This requires social skills.)<p>- <i></i>Create a business product.<i></i> Be a middle man. Build a product that identifies and ameliorates a common business pain point. Find a major, underlying cost that is industry-wide and create a service or app that reduces this cost for the user. As quickly as possible, put competent people to work under you. Scale quickly and gets lots of smart people in your corner quickly. (<i>NOTE:</i> This requires social skills, observational skills, persistence, technical skills, and a generous helping of luck.)<p>- <i></i>Create a consumer product.<i></i> Be a founder. Build a business that satisfies a base human desire (entertainment, sex, greed, etc.) and charge money for it. See above. (<i>NOTE:</i> This requires all the same skills as above, plus more luck. The consumer space is packed with competition.)<p>- <i></i>Be indispensable in a lucrative, but unpopular, niche.<i></i> Specialize in MUMPS or COBOL or FORTRAN. Pick an industry that many avoid, like porn or gambling or spam. There's less competition, sure, but there's also higher risk to your long-term employment. And you have to live with yourself, so be sure you're OK with your choice. (<i>NOTE:</i> This seems to be the most compatible with your skill set and attitude, but might not be an ethical/moral match.)<p>- <i></i>Grind away in a decent job, save aggressively, and invest.<i></i> Be boring. Get a $120k/yr job and live like a student, putting at least half your income into savings. After a few years, start investing that money in people more motivated/skilled than yourself. This has the highest likelihood of working out -- assuming economic stability -- but is the least sexy option available to moderately talented engineers because it takes a <i>long</i> time. (<i>NOTE:</i> You'll still probably need social skills to be successful at this.)<p>- <i></i>Get profoundly lucky.<i></i> Be in the right place at the right time. Be the founding engineer or a stupid startup at a time when VCs are throwing money at everything and asking no questions. Be an early hire at a unicorn. Stumble on the next Angry Birds or Pokemon Go or whatever. (<i>NOTE:</i> This is entirely beyond your control. Almost everybody in The Valley of Dreams is pursuing this goal. You're still better-served by having technical and social skills.)