Do not forget college. Your high school experience was all mind-numbingly homogeneous, everybody took the same classes, followed the same curriculum, had to pass the same standardized tests.

Go to college and sample a variety of disciplines. Make acquaintances of people from different fields. Concentrate on your own studies, but hang with a diverse crowd. It isn't high school anymore.

I grok your mercenary prime directive, and readily admit that a college diploma isn't an automatic meal ticket. But you'll be better for the experience, and if you learn for pleasure a well-chosen college can be a three-or-four year Candyland.

+1 Find someone who has a real problem which can be solved with tech and who is ready to pay for the solution, build an easy to use solution which solves the problem, profit.