1. Leetcode and System Design
2. Software Engineer Google L3 New Grad
3. Promo to Senior Engineer Google L5 (4-5 years; 26-27 years old)
4. Hop from Unicorn to Unicorn or create your own startup
5. If you sell your startup to Big Tech, you'll have enough principal for retirement AND get promo'd to director since you were Founder CEO ($1m+ salary)
6. Early retirement in your 30s
Traditional Careers from Schooling that will impress your parents the most:
Option X - Surgeon/Scientist:
Age 18-21: Caltech Undergrad
Age 22-29: Harvard/MIT MD-PhD (8 yr dual program with Harvard MD and MIT PhD)
Age 30-36: UCSF Neurosurgery Residency (#1 in US)
Age 37: NYU Langone Hospital Neurosurgeon Scientist (#1 in US)
Option Y - PE/VC/Lawyer:
Age 18-21: Harvard Undergrad
Age 22-24: Blackstone Private Equity Analyst (3 yr program fresh new grad, skipping investment banking)
Age 25-28: Stanford GSB JD/MBA (4 yr dual program JD and MBA program)
Age 29: SCOTUS Fellow (straight to SCOTUS, directly skipping appellate clerkships)
Age 30: Tiger Hedge Fund Manager or Sequoia Venture Capitalist or Wachtell Lawyer
Option Z - Software Engineer / AI Researcher:
Age 18-21: MIT SB/MEng (4 yr program combining Master's Degree with Bachelor's)
Summer after Sophomore Year: DeepMind internship
Summer after Junior Year: Hudson River Trading internship
Summer after graduating, before entering PhD: SpaceX internship
Age 22-24: Stanford CS PhD (3 yr program for Master's holders, skipping the intro 2 years before Qualifying Exams; Google Researcher during summers)
Age 25: OpenAI Research Scientist or Founder CEO (Unicorn/Decacorn before Age 30)
Obviously harder than it looks