I graduated high school in the mid 2000's. At the time I was really into audio tech and music and wanted to become an audio engineer. I had been playing music s

I graduated high school in the mid 2000's. At the time I was really into audio tech and music and wanted to become an audio engineer. I had been playing music since second grade and I also clearly had a technical mind as I had a computer and web page building hobby/hustle as well. I ran the sound for my high school's theater department and for the large-ish church my family went to. I attended a college prep charter school and they had dedicated class time for researching and applying for scholarships or applying to colleges. When it was time to start looking at college I found several programs that interested me and I was really excited. Then I started looking at the prices. My family was lower middle class. My parents made ends meet and worked their asses off to do that. There was no way they could have saved for my college. I filled out FASFA and they had nothing to offer me because my parents made too much money (~40k at the time) and also probably because I only had a B+ GPA and I biffed the ACT and received a mediocre score. I had a choice to take out loans and if I was lucky end up in an entry-level position making a quarter of my loan totals a year. I chose to make my computer hobby a career and my music/audio career a hobby. I taught myself web development and eventually back end development. I never went to college and I didn't spend my twenties paying off debts. I am eternally grateful for the choice 17 year old me made. Since then, when something is purported to be a silver bullet or something _everyone_ must do I tend to look for a different direction.