23?!

I had a fantastic weekend on my 23rd birthday. I visited SLO for some wine-tasting with my college friends, where I reconnected with good people and fond memories. The weather was perfect: warm with a gentle breeze. The winter rain had brought an end to the drought and replaced bare mountains with green life. Driving down I-280 every day to work helps me put aside the stress and appreciate the beauty of Californian nature.

My new years resolutions from 22 were:

1. Land a good job offer or get accepted into a good grad school
2. Start investing and saving (bringing this one back from 2 years ago) ✔
3. Create 10 year financial goals and plans to meet them ✔
4. Find a non-engineering and non-CS related hobby and get good at it
5. Do something really cool during the gap time from when my internship ends to employment/school

1)

My work with my current company got extended by 6 months, so my employment status is in a kind of limbo right now. I've committed to going down the employment path so far, and am in the middle of several interview processes. My time in the industry (about 9 months so far) has given me a lot of insight on how the professional world works. It's given me a good sense of what I want to avoid and what I want to pursue, as well as a sense of what makes for a good work environment. I have a stronger understanding of work-life balance and it's made me question which I want to prioritize. I always knew that there are a few important factors to consider before accepting an offer, but experiencing real work has enabled for this advice to become grounded with evidence. These factors in order of priority are:

Compensation (base salary, benefits, and RSU): Work consumes at least 40 hours of your week every week, and much more in a tech company. Like how the primary objective of a company is to return a profit, the primary goal of a worker is to earn money. No matter how much I like my job, I would never feel satisfied if my job did not help me meet my financial goals. Unlike job satisfaction, money is not fleeting; how much you have in your bank will determine your mobility and financial freedom. Even sacrificing a bit of career growth opportunity is worth an increased base compensation if you invest that initial earning well. This is one thing I do not want to compromise on.

People (manager, coworkers, company culture): I think the people who work around you and the people you answer to are more important to your job satisfaction than the actual job function. If you want to concentrate on a different field, you can do so within some bandwidth. If your activity adds value to your team or the company, people will not stop you from doing it. However, you cannot change the coworkers you work with or the company culture so easily.

Job (daily activities, scope of work, independence): This is probably the most difficult factor in the decision making process for me. I don't yet have a super solid understanding of what I want to do 5 years or 10 years down the road. Throughout my college life, I've been living somewhat spontaneously. Mechanical engineering itself is a very broad field, and the internships I've had from ranged from research to industry, and I've studied in and worked in places all around the world. I've found a technical problem I am passionate about, but I am not passionate enough about it to close doors to other opportunities so early on in the game, especially when so few are open in the first place. I am hesitant to part with that kind of mindset, because I fear that focusing too deep on one thing or committing to one path will keep me from realizing greater opportunities. Another thing is that as an engineer with a bachelors degree, I feel that not having further formal education in the particular technical field distances me from other job candidates. If I am working on technology I am passionate about, I don't want to be relegated to an application engineer or sales engineer role - I want to work on the actual technology.

Other (career growth opportunities,

I feel that getting a masters is the right thing for me to do. However, I don't think this is the right time. I want more industry experience before going back for a masters. I also don't know if I want to do an MBA or a technical masters. One thing is sure: I need to do some more soul searching.

2)

Living at home where the cost of living is high and working for a well paying company has enabled me to save almost all of my earnings. I have a nice portfolio for a 23 year old and I would not be surprised if I x1.5 it by the time I am 24. Between savings, index based mutual funds, and individual stocks, I feel that I've hit this goal out of the park. This may seem surprising on paper because I don't even have a full time job yet, but this situation echos my values outlined above.

3)

While I don't have my 10 year financial goals written on paper, I know I am headed in a good direction. Now that becoming a millionaire by age 30 sounds difficult but feasible, I want to shoot for 10 million by 35. Of course, this will change my financial and career strategy - as it should. I want to start earning income on the side and grow it so that it becomes my main source of income eventually.

4)

Since I joined a startup as a part timer, and since I've been putting in a lot of travel (4 times to China and 1 time to Japan in 8 months, in 2+ week spans - that's international travel every 2 months) and overtime in my work, I haven't the chance to focus on my hobbies a whole lot. The good news is that I am still finding the time to read the news and The Economist, exercise roughly 2 times a week, and have fun on the weekends every now and then.

5)

This one is unfortunately not achievable since I don't have any gap time. I really wish I did.

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I think working at my current company has brought me a ton of new opportunities and experiences I would not have been able to experience anywhere else:

1. Travel internationally multiple times
2. Sit in business class every time I travel, and stay in 5 star hotels everywhere I go
3. Not only visit, but work with a world class supplier in China, complete with its own population of 40k workers and dormitories
4. Visit my girlfriend almost every time I traveled, since she travels a lot too in Asia - this part is so great it's like I'm living in a movie

I've also been able to hit some other milestones:

1. Pass the JLPT N1
2. Form or join a startup
3. Maintain a good relationship with my girlfriend even through long distance

I've been living life without realizing it. Starting freshman year of college, from building a friend group that I love, to having a unique study abroad experience in Australia, to working in Japan and finding someone I love, to maintaining that relationship halfway across the world with the help of work travel, I've been living life like I am the main character in my own movie. The one thing I could use right now would be a full time job with job security and some clarity in my career path.

Now onto my 23 year old resolutions:

1. Land a good job offer
2. Double my current financial portfolio
3. Find my niche and find some clarity in my 5 year horizon
4. Keep learning: finish the Coursera ML class and take a class on CNNs
5. Start a cool project - it should help me further my education and/or generate side income

Keep learning, keep progressing and don't forget my ideals and my roots. I know the best is yet to come.