What I would do if I was 18 now (2016)
levels.io
levels.io
This advice is bright red with white spots on it.
The wisdom includes: Don't go to university. Set up an online business that makes 5k/month without requiring you to work too much. Oh, and visit a strip club for some reason.
It's a silly example to use. There's basically no one else like him, and the product only got this much traction because he's already an influencer. He's such an outlier.
I had seen him on Twitter but took a second to connect this blog to that account.
If you're of modest or lower means, what other choice do you have? Continue taking the advice of a bygone era and hope it works out? Foolish, really.
There are medical, legal, financial, engineering, and educational jobs out there which require a degree.
Yes the job market is competitive, but all the evidence I've seen suggests building a business is even harder.
“Handyman” has mostly been replaced by Taskrabbit et al. But just try finding an electrician, a plumber, a roofer, someone who can lay tile or install windows properly, etc. for real home renovations or even just troubleshooting that goes beyond snaking a drain.
Go into surveying? You can fly drones around, be outside, use cool software, do real work, and have a decent middle class lifestyle.
This is bad advice if you're truly seeking to be educated, rather than merely be trained for a job. The problem with self-education is that you'll only ever gravitate toward things that you find interesting or useful. Which is probably just fine if all you care about is making a basic living doing something you enjoy.
But, if you're interesting in learning, there is a lot of value in basically being forced to do difficult things that you don't necessarily enjoy doing in the moment. I might even call this skill a requirement for adulthood, which is full of such situations.
Of course, don't go into serious debt for it, but that's a different question. The value of an education shouldn't be primarily financial in the first place.
But there are some things that are valid. Learning, understanding, try to fit it all together, as broad as you can, that keeps working. Being mindful, not overspend, don't get pulled by social trends, and train critical thinking also goes for most times.
But I would give some space to make some (not critical) mistakes. If you survive to them and they don't add a bad weight in your future they work as learning too.
That is pretty hysterical. Where does this guy live? Oh, he lives in ASIA. That's it, all you gotta do is move to Asia. And his advice is still "Leran to Code". And of course he was on Lex Fridman's show.
I am so tired of these people. And this kid has a lot of growing up to do still.
Ah yes, simple easy life advice that every citizen can follow.
The rest of this .. some is pretty good, especially about not just focusing on computers but on people, but even now I think the "don't go to university" is hugely controversial because a lot of employers do look at qualifications.
> if I was 18 in 2016.
but I suppose equally (or more?) applicable now.
Half of the article is based around making money and saving money. This is exactly the capitalist system you are playing.
What about doing a job which brings joy and pays the costs while living a nice life. There is many of those jobs.
In many member countries, ever more people will face an ever bleaker future (because repaying the re-armament debt will mean less social security, less medical care, less housing, less ... and less education). On top of that they will find themselves well-armed with plenty of neighbor countries they could conquer, able to vote in a government that can use those weapons if they want to, all in an EU that's falling apart, because the EU will be the organization extracting debt from everyone's living money, and will quickly find itself hated and despised.
You may think "but don't worry, AI + robots + tech" will save us. That may or may not become possible, but even if it does there's a slight issue: do you mean Chinese robots, American AI and tech that needs education subsidies to be developed in the first place? And are you going to buy that tech with fresh debt while you're already underwater just on the repayment of your current debt?
Even that is ignoring a horrible truth that nobody is yet ready to face: Trump will do the damage to trade and the EU that he will do ... and afterwards the democrats will not reverse it.
In a LOT of EU countries, the current batch of kids will find themselves uneducated, forced to pay back more debt than any 1st world country has ever seen, with lots of weapons, and about half of them with a neighbor country that's weaker than themselves.
These kids will find themselves uneducated, unable to leave, and faced with political parties presenting the "choice" between war and poverty. That will be an easy choice, of course.
And then, after a few rounds of kill-the-neighbor, they will find themselves facing superpowers that have AI robot armies and no use for uneducated human employees.