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An alternative could be to become a corporate soldier for a decade and achieve financial freedom by living frugally and saving aggressively. You’ll find yourse

An alternative could be to become a corporate soldier for a decade and achieve financial freedom by living frugally and saving aggressively. You’ll find yourself in your early 30s with at least a million dollars (and likely much more) being able to take so much more risk without having to rely on (or upset) your parents. This is not too bad. While as you say working in corporate America is not necessarily the apex of one’s life, you can learn a lot of things that will be useful in your future endeavors. I currently work as a senior tech person at a FAANG and the scale of things I see is really interesting (e.g. I routinely do data processing on tens of exabytes), and it is very unlikely you’d be exposed to similar challenges just by doing random freelancing gigs to stay afloat.

junon 5y ago
This fairy tale idea of becoming financially independent these days is just that - a fairy tale. You'll end up burnt out and hating the career path you chose, even if it's your hobby. YMMV but I strongly advise taking the parent comment with a grain of salt.
- deanmoriarty 5y ago
  Are you arguing about the impossibility of getting to financial independence, or the fact that this young 21yo I-want-everything-but-have-done-nothing-beside-highschool person should not pursue a full time employment because it is not “meaningful” for them and as such it would lead to burnout? To me the fairy tale here is that this person can think about doing meaningful work without having achieved significant experience in anything and without a financial safety net. My suggestion was a practical solution, which of course comes at a cost, to fix both issues and set them up for entrepreneurship in a few years.
  - junon 5y ago
    I'm saying that the amount of work someone needs to put into a career in tech starting from nothing in 2022 far exceeds what is feasible or healthy for any individual person to do. The time have changed from a few decades ago where it was possible to climb up corporate ladders and secure equity. It's also a waste of your 20's, depending on your point of view.
    - sillysaurusx 5y ago
      Hmm? All I’ll say is that this doesn’t match my experience. In fact I’m not sure what you’re saying. There seems to be no other career path as lucrative with comparatively little effort. Heck, I took a break from porting ML models to type this on my iPad, and the way things are going, I’ll probably be able to retire within a decade. Not too shabby. If you think a motivated 20 something can’t do this, it’s just not true. The trick is that you need to focus on money. Start negotiating salary aggressively, demonstrate your skills, and interview at multiple places on a regular basis.
      - nnoitra 5y ago
        It really does though. CS exams are hard and require a lot of studying and then there's leetcode, system design and everything else under the sun. What about dating, travelling, sports, family? Is one supposed to spend their entire time thinking of ways to speed-up algorithms. There's a reason fast algorithms are fast they utilize a lof of hard work and focus to create.
        unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        > What about dating, travelling, sports, family? Is one supposed to spend their entire time thinking of ways to speed-up algorithms. I find it peculiarly reassuring that so many HN commenters are adding things like this -- my own experience of my twenties would have been better if people had stopped me more often to say "are you sure you're OK?" and "is this really all you want?"
    - deanmoriarty 5y ago
      I truly do not know what your comment is talking about. There is no easier lucrative career to get into today than tech. I work at perhaps the most difficult FAANG to get into, and just my tiny org hires hundreds of 20-something each quarter with no experience at all who barely know what they are doing, and pays them 6 figures. Every other company does the same, just even easier to get into. And there is no need to climb the ladder, just get to mid level engineer, which requires virtually no effort, and with some frugal living you’ll be financially set.

junon 5y ago

This fairy tale idea of becoming financially independent these days is just that - a fairy tale. You'll end up burnt out and hating the career path you chose, even if it's your hobby. YMMV but I strongly advise taking the parent comment with a grain of salt.

deanmoriarty 5y ago
Are you arguing about the impossibility of getting to financial independence, or the fact that this young 21yo I-want-everything-but-have-done-nothing-beside-highschool person should not pursue a full time employment because it is not “meaningful” for them and as such it would lead to burnout? To me the fairy tale here is that this person can think about doing meaningful work without having achieved significant experience in anything and without a financial safety net. My suggestion was a practical solution, which of course comes at a cost, to fix both issues and set them up for entrepreneurship in a few years.
- junon 5y ago
  I'm saying that the amount of work someone needs to put into a career in tech starting from nothing in 2022 far exceeds what is feasible or healthy for any individual person to do. The time have changed from a few decades ago where it was possible to climb up corporate ladders and secure equity. It's also a waste of your 20's, depending on your point of view.
  - sillysaurusx 5y ago
    Hmm? All I’ll say is that this doesn’t match my experience. In fact I’m not sure what you’re saying. There seems to be no other career path as lucrative with comparatively little effort. Heck, I took a break from porting ML models to type this on my iPad, and the way things are going, I’ll probably be able to retire within a decade. Not too shabby. If you think a motivated 20 something can’t do this, it’s just not true. The trick is that you need to focus on money. Start negotiating salary aggressively, demonstrate your skills, and interview at multiple places on a regular basis.
    - nnoitra 5y ago
      It really does though. CS exams are hard and require a lot of studying and then there's leetcode, system design and everything else under the sun. What about dating, travelling, sports, family? Is one supposed to spend their entire time thinking of ways to speed-up algorithms. There's a reason fast algorithms are fast they utilize a lof of hard work and focus to create.
      - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
        > What about dating, travelling, sports, family? Is one supposed to spend their entire time thinking of ways to speed-up algorithms. I find it peculiarly reassuring that so many HN commenters are adding things like this -- my own experience of my twenties would have been better if people had stopped me more often to say "are you sure you're OK?" and "is this really all you want?"
  - deanmoriarty 5y ago
    I truly do not know what your comment is talking about. There is no easier lucrative career to get into today than tech. I work at perhaps the most difficult FAANG to get into, and just my tiny org hires hundreds of 20-something each quarter with no experience at all who barely know what they are doing, and pays them 6 figures. Every other company does the same, just even easier to get into. And there is no need to climb the ladder, just get to mid level engineer, which requires virtually no effort, and with some frugal living you’ll be financially set.