I started with only one goal, and I have come to only two conclusions.

Goal: Learn how to do even that which I can't properly understand at face value today.

Conclusions: I do not want to work in hardware. I do not want to work in life-dependent hardware.

Hardware is hard, and I want the freedom to experiment with new software ideas without having to consider who may die / be injured. You can usually undo mission critical faults with money but you can't replace a life.

Unfortunately, I don't know how I came to these conclusions other than meeting with lots of people. I get a bad taste in my mouth when I see people who go off to location X in the world to help solve Y. I just don't see myself committing to that location and would prefer to attack things in a way that can solve them worldwide.