Originally Posted by operator
Honestly, there wasn't really anything good to choose from graduating hs (absolutely no idea what I wanted to do). I had a really good teacher for com sci in h.s and thought that Uni classes would be similarily enjoyable (mistake #1) so I applied for that.
Realized fairly quickly that the core of the program was the theoretical foundation to com sci, all the complexity analysis, correctness proofs and the god awful math courses of which I have absolutely no interest in. There was also the small bit of familial pressure to go into a technical field that would lead into a job that would generate lots of $ or you're considered a failure (engineering ranks up there as well as business).
Sounds like a big long whiny rant, but I hope to hell I won't need to be doing com sci/IT work for the next 40 years to make a living.
Take a year off (at least), travel the world on your parents nickel (or I have some good listings of travel/volunteer jobs. Come back. Go to law school. Go into corporate law. Article at $60 000/year, start at $90 000, 5 years later become a junior partner at $250k /year. Buy a huge house in Forest Hill. Develop an ulcer. Marry a trophy wife who can go to charity events you care nothing about. Refer to your liver in the third person. Lie flat on your back with a tube up your nose thinking "I didn't do it right". Die.
I don't think anyone should even think about starting a career until they're thirty. But that's me.