You’re 17 - don’t just think about paying bills. Not yet. If this interest stems from money and ambitions then you’re trying to build your foundations in sand.
It’s not really about what you choose but how you do the thing you do. How well you can apply yourself to it. You want to find work that gives you flow state.
My 0.2c as a cinema studies/filmmaker turned PM - there are so many soft skills I acquired pursuing a totally different dream. And yet they all turned out being exactly what I needed.
HN is filled with squares hyper-optimizing for sensible logical choices. Advice is older folks give each other is more conservative and about capturing trends because that’s the safe thing to do. We have kids, deteriorating bodies and brains. At 17 you should do opposite: maximize risk for the next few years - you will regret not taking advantage, not developing character, not using your youth to it’s full potential (especially spectacular failure).
If building things on computers is what you want, no new trend will change the fact that you will build great things.
> maximize risk for the next few years - you will regret not taking advantage, not developing character, not using your youth to it’s full potential (especially spectacular failure).
In what way? This sounds like pretty good advice, but I'm not sure how to practically apply it.
I meant every type of risk - how you practically apply this sort of advice is 100% your part. You know yourself best, you are at the center of your universe etc.
In a way what you choose will then become an integral part of your identity.
Coming back around to this AI stuff - I think there will be plenty of need for smart people to be doing CS stuff. If that’s who you are - lean into it hard.
It’s not really about what you choose but how you do the thing you do. How well you can apply yourself to it. You want to find work that gives you flow state.
My 0.2c as a cinema studies/filmmaker turned PM - there are so many soft skills I acquired pursuing a totally different dream. And yet they all turned out being exactly what I needed.
HN is filled with squares hyper-optimizing for sensible logical choices. Advice is older folks give each other is more conservative and about capturing trends because that’s the safe thing to do. We have kids, deteriorating bodies and brains. At 17 you should do opposite: maximize risk for the next few years - you will regret not taking advantage, not developing character, not using your youth to it’s full potential (especially spectacular failure).
If building things on computers is what you want, no new trend will change the fact that you will build great things.