What is a good IT career path?

Should I stick with what I'm good at or go with a different, interesting career path while I'm still young?

• Right now I'm still in college (20 y/o), majoring in something related to Artificial Intelligence/Smart tech. It isn't a technically heavy curriculum. My intention was to maintain a 3.7-3.8 GPA, and then do a Master's in HCI at one of the better universities in the US (CMU, GaTech, Stanford, UW, Berkeley). I seem to be somewhat good at design, as I'm currently employed in the R&D department of a big tech company, doing UI design work, developing new concepts etc. I've had well-paying freelance jobs during high school and college (quit upon employment). My work tends to get boring and sluggish at times (mostly when I perform below my personal standards or when I find the assigned projects uninteresting), which is why I'm considering a switch. Recently I became interested in Machine Learning and it's applications in robotics but particularly stock markets, and now I am considering changing my focus. Machine Learning seems more future-proof than HCI, career prospects also seem to be better. I should note that I am not particularly talented at math. Money is important to me. The probability of making good money is obviously bigger in ML and Algo trading than it is in HCI.  I'm not sure if money should be as important to my career choices as it should be to me personally. The importance of money to me lies in the fact that I come from a quite affluent family; we lost it all and if I don't continue the 'legacy' no one will.

• Answer:

  If you don't like math you don't want to head towards machine learning, algorithmic trading, or similar fields - these are almost nothing but math. In fact, they are not merely the math that good engineers learn getting a BSEE or BSME, rather this tends to be the "separate the men from the boys" super abstract math. In fact, my understanding is that in recent years (like the last 10 years or so) the "quant" trading houses ignore resumes from people who merely have MBAs and head strait for the PhD Physics/Math grads to look for candidates. The comments I saw published were along the lines of "We can teach the economics to the math people, we can't teach the math to the MBA types" Now, as for being 20 and having focus issues...This problem is really, really common...especially among young men. Having two sons slightly older than this age range and also being pretty widely traveled... my current opinion is that in the United States we stampede young men into college much too early. Many other leading economies have some variation on two years of mandatory military/public service...and their high-schools go 13 years instead of 12. Net effect is that their young men spend ages 19-21 or so out in the fresh air climbing mountains, lifting heavy objects, painting large walls, carrying stretchers, and doing all manner of physically challenging things....BEFORE someone asks them to sit in a lecture hall, focus on textbooks, write long essays, and so on. I think these other societies have it right. Much, much better for most young men. You might want to consider simply shelving your studies and doing a few years in the Coast Guard to get some life perspective. Serve your country and come back to college with a clearer focus, some savings, and more maturity. It will work wonders on your ability to pick a path, focus on it, and enjoy doing well at the work. Hope this helps! David Hetherington