Before I started university, I was overly focused on the label on my degree, the degree program I would choose, not the career it would enable. This was a common trap, one that most students tend to fall into: focusing on the next step instead of the destination. Fortunately, I had parents and a socioeconomic context during my youth that pretty much required me to focus on career outcomes as I grew older, started high school, and refined my understanding of the next steps in my life: university education. My parents and other mentors asked me useful questions about what jobs a university education in a particular field would result in, and whether I would be employable, financially independent, and (last and somewhat least) happy in those jobs.
I am an MIT reject, but it was likely one of the best things that ever happened to me. Instead, I was accepted into the engineering program at CMU,1 where you were admitted into two different degree programs and had to choose one at the end of your first year. I was offered electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and chemical engineering (CHE). After taking introductory courses in both, the choice of CHE was clear to me. It is, from my experience, the broadest engineering discipline, with mechanical engineering a close second. I wanted concepts and skills that would give me access to a broad range of future jobs, and the combination of physics, chemistry, math, and team project work in CHE was the best fit. The software/hardware aspects of ECE did appeal to me, but I realized that what I was actually interested in was computer science, not electrical engineering. Those skills were still accessible through a minor or double major, where I chose the latter.
My career started off in a relatively orthodox way. Coming from a family with modest means, I did not want to take risks early in my career. When I started my undergraduate degree at CMU1 I made sure to learn as many technical and employable skills as possible, which led me to choose chemical engineering as a major at the end of my first year.2 I had a simple career plan: prepare for a well-paying, secure job with the potential to transition into technical management.