Where to go and why (2007)

It appears that article is more suitable to describe author's own experience rather than making it a generically dispensable advice. If a young person took this advice in 1993, he/she will most likely end up being lawyer because that was the hottest thing during that time while computers/Internet far from being mainstream. The thing is that predicting what would be hot 5 years down the line is almost impossible. For all we know, it could be self-driving cars or may be even commercial asteroid mining industry.

In fact, following the hottest thing might be almost the worst advice because it almost guarantees that you are entering something that might already be at peak and future has already moved on to somewhere else. Following "the hottest thing" also means you either have no originality, passion, real interests or curiosity for yourself and you would be optimizing your life just to generate some income. It's far more important to have a fulfilling life to be an astronomer if that's your passion instead of 9-5 banker just because that's the hottest job in the moment.

Counterpoint: http://www.businessinsider.com/malcolm-gladwells-david-and-g...