My general career advice for people in their 20s

- Figure out what you want to be when you grow up

- If that's too hard, figure out where you want to be in 5 years

- Work backwards from there, what's the best next move that gets you closer to that goal

- Optimize for 1 thing at a time; optimizing for multiple things usually leads to worse near-term decisions

- Avoid side quests rationalizing the optionality or ability to return the main quest later

comment on this as a 20 something with a developed prefrontal cortex

(i have skin in the game)

"figure out what you want to be when you grow up" is the most important piece of action you can take

probably most important challenge and it takes years to figure out

you can respect zuck, dhh, @fredwilson.eth or karpathy at the same time and want to be like all of them

but their lives, lifestyles, families, problems and stories are completely different

and probably not even applicable to yours

so you really need to figure out what end goal suits you the best and be very focused on what will help you achieve this particular one

customer support @supercast

trying to sound smart /doingnumbers

I totally agree. I’ve been thinking along the same lines lately—everyone’s life is so different that trying to follow someone else exactly could actually be counterproductive. In the end, I’m realizing that finding a goal that suits me and figuring out how to achieve it is what’s most important. It’s not easy, but I’m planning to take my time and think it through.