I have jumped outside that track, and it is what I am teaching my kids to think about. What best jobs? What does it mean to be successful? I have far less money

I have jumped outside that track, and it is what I am teaching my kids to think about. What best jobs? What does it mean to be successful? I have far less money than some of my peers, but they envy my lifestyle of living minimally and in different countries. It all depends on what your goals are, and what group you run with I guess. I say question your assumptions. As far as being more competitive, I don't buy it. 1 million, 1 billion, if you truly have common sense and some intellect, you beat out 99% of those numbers, and the common sense doesn't seemed to have scaled to make the population that now enters the market any more difficult, but that is purely limited empirical obsevation on my part. BTW, I am still in the job market, so I am familiar with how competitive it is, and I don't rely on just established connections. I venture out of my comfort zone often. From programming, to diving to maintain and fix electrical and hydralic systems underwater, to managing installations and subsequent operations of a few world-class installations of unique equipment, and an odd assortment of other skills. And, I did it without completing a degree. See that was my attempt at putting me CV out there ;)