

Ask HN: How can I make a lot of money? - gschiller

I&#x27;m going to be a high school senior. I have great grades and SATs. I can go to a lot of different universities. What should I do and why?
======
miles
"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:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogAxzPaU5H4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogAxzPaU5H4)
. Here's a taste (from the rough transcript available at
[http://www.tilsonfunds.com/BuffettUofFloridaspeech.pdf‎](http://www.tilsonfunds.com/BuffettUofFloridaspeech.pdf‎)
):

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 urge you to work in jobs that you love_. 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?

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.

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.

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.

------
27182818284
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."

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"

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 _pivot to what you love_ once you
find it.

~~~
gschiller
I like math, economics, and CS. What would you recommend I pursue?

~~~
throwaway1979
Heh ... that was me 18 years ago. I went towards CS because that is what I
truly loved. My father wanted me to become a banker so he was disappointed for
a few years but got over it. As I approach my mid-30s and quite unsettled in
life, I'm not sure if I made the right decision. I love CS, but at the upper
echelons it is extremely competitive. Too competitive, in my opinion.
Knowledge capital in CS degrades very quickly. Good jobs are in the most
expensive places of the country to live. The male-female ratio is crazy bad. I
came across a blog post today that really bummed me out but makes valid
points: [http://techtalk.dice.com/t5/Tech-Career-Advice-
Archive/Why-a...](http://techtalk.dice.com/t5/Tech-Career-Advice-Archive/Why-
a-career-in-computer-programming-sucks/td-p/144845)

I am going to disagree with most of the other posters around here and say you
should try to maximize your monetary outcome. Those bankers everyone rips on
... if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. CS is very intellectually
stimulating but who is to say that the code I write is better for society than
what something a banker does. I don't think that is the case. Academia is for
the birds too ... you will be chasing peanuts of funding for years until you
have a strong enough reputation.

If I was 18 again, I'd either become a medical doctor or directly go for
entrepreneurship. And entrepreneurship is not just tech startups. Have enough
b*lls to start a gas station or something. I've spend almost 2 decades
learning technology and I am barely adequate. If I had spent half this time
learning something like managing people, I think I would be far more
successful according to my own metrics of success.

I honestly don't know what to tell you. Just one thing ... recognize the
opportunities you are given and be mindful that you may not get the same
opportunities again. So be the best you can be.

~~~
gschiller
I'm currently between pursuing finance (banking), consulting, law, and
entrepreneurship (CS). I love making new things, so I think that CS would be
very freeing; however, I know that those other paths would probably be more
straightforward for me, but maybe I should at least take a chance on CS.

That said, I'm currently no expert on programming. I've self taught Python,
HTML, CSS, some js, and I'm currently learning Ruby on Rails because my friend
and I are working on making a web app (he's doing most of the programming, but
it was my concept). Right now, I'm not sure if I should declare myself as a
prospective CS major or not considering my lack of credentials. Economics
would be much easier for me to justify.

------
dandrews
Read this.

[http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-
yo...](http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-
person/?page=full)

------
rdouble
Go to Harvey Mudd and major in Econ and EE.

[http://www.payscale.com/college-education-
value-2013](http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value-2013)

