Explore life, and find out what it is you want to do. Maybe you want to start your own company. Maybe you're ok working a nine-to-five if it's an exciting proje

Explore life, and find out what it is you want to do. Maybe you want to start your own company. Maybe you're ok working a nine-to-five if it's an exciting project, or if affects people, or it's a small and driven environment. Maybe what you really want to do isn't even programming, but something like writing or architecture or graphic design. Just because you're got at software, that doesn't mean it's what you want to do, and it doesn't mean that it's what it should do. There are two good ways to do this. One is going to college full-time, and taking random-ass courses that you think might be interesting. Don't go for the degree, don't focus on CS courses only. Go for the experience, put effort into things that aren't required that you think may benefit you, and especially talk to people. The second way is to get a boring nine-to-five job that puts food on the table and gives you enough spare time to get a hobby or a side project. Then just do whatever suits your fancy, until you find something that suits your fancy and you want to be more serious about. Getting a crappier job is actually better, as it will be easier psychologically to drop it and follow your dream when you find it. The third, less desirable, option is to be a bum. This is much like getting a crappy job and exploring on the side, except without the job, and subsequently without the food that it puts on the table. This requires either awesome friends or a savings account. Be warned, it's habit-forming. I would recommend the other 2 options because they'll teach you self-discipline, which is important.