I had this thought after remembering one time that my DT (digital technologies) teacher at high school suggested that some of the class could try join a hacking competition. Nothing ever came of it, but I thought it was interesting at the time.
What’s really interesting is seeing the choices I made, and asking “what if I did the other thing”. Just off the top of my head, I could be still at uni doing research on maths or physics, I could be working on designing new robots for who knows what, or branching off even earlier, I could have been a doctor like my parents.
I’m only 24, so it seems like I might be a bit young for this kind of thinking, but there’s still a lot of things I could have done differently.
This is definitely a shower thought. Good news, at 24 there is plenty of time to backtrack and reroute.
I’m a bit similar, I am only in my current career because I responded to an job ad email that was later rescinded.
I get that, but this wasn’t really a “look at the opportunities I’ve missed”, it was more of “huh, my life could have been completely different by now”. I like my job, I like my social life, and I have an amazing fiance that I’m marrying in less than 2 months. I don’t know what would be on my other paths, but I’m glad I chose this one.
There are some I’m glad i didn’t take. I started a degree in computer science in 2020, and I had plans to focus on machine learning research. If I hadn’t dropped it at the end of that year, I’d likely have finished my degree right at the start of the chat gpt shitshow.
I understand, I’m where I’m at by chance, and I wouldnt want to try a different path either. I did go down the robotics/compsci path, but didn’t end up in either of those fields, so you never know how things will end up.