"How can I make a lot of money?" is perhaps not as enlightening or rewarding as "What do I really enjoy doing?". I strongly recommend this video of Buffett talking with MBAs at the University of Florida back in the late 90s: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogAxzPaU5H4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogAxzPaU5H4</a> . Here's a taste (from the rough transcript available at <a href="http://www.tilsonfunds.com/BuffettUofFloridaspeech.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.tilsonfunds.com/BuffettUofFloridaspeech.pdf</a> ):<p>I get to work in a job that I love, but I have always worked at a job that I loved. I loved it just as much when I thought it was a big deal to make $1,000. <i>I urge you to work in jobs that you love</i>. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your resume. I was with a fellow at Harvard the other day who was taking me over to talk. He was 28 and he was telling me all that he had done in life, which was terrific. And then I said, “What will you do next?” “Well,” he said, “Maybe after I get my MBA I will go to work for a consulting firm because it will look good on my resume.” I said, “Look, you are 28 and you have been doing all these things, you have a resume 10 times than anybody I have ever seen. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?<p>There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. When I first got out of Columbia Business School, I wanted to go to work for Graham immediately for nothing. He thought I was over-priced. But I kept pestering him. I sold securities for three years and I kept writing him and finally I went to work for him for a couple of years. It was a great experience. But I always worked in a job that I loved doing. You really should take a job that if you were independently wealthy that would be the job you would take. You will learn something, you will be excited about, and you will jump out of bed. You can’t miss. You may try something else later on, but you will get way more out of it and I don’t care what the starting salary is.<p>When you get out of here take a job you love, not a job you think will look good on your resume. You ought to find something you like.<p>If you think you will be happier getting 2x instead of 1x, you are probably making a mistake. You will get in trouble if you think making 10x or 20x will make you happier because then you will borrow money when you shouldn’t or cut corners on things. It just doesn’t make sense and you won’t like it when you look back.
The other day I was in line at the grocery store and buying frozen peas. I'm in the middle of a startup and money isn't tight, but not flowing either. The person in front of me said, "I see you're giving peas a chance."<p>I was so stressed out from business things that I responded with, "Ya, I like 'em" Then a few seconds later I understood the joke. He laughed and with his mostly gray beard he said "Yeah that was grandfather-level"<p>That last part really stayed with me. Grandfather-level. I think the the grandfather-level advice is what you're looking for. It is hard to say without knowing more about you, but my guess is that you want to work toward the thing you really really like. If you don't know what you really like, learn while keeping costs to a minimum so that you can <i>pivot to what you love</i> once you find it.
Go to Harvey Mudd and major in Econ and EE.<p><a href="http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value-2013" rel="nofollow">http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value-2013</a>