Hahahhahahahahahaa. As someone with a PhD in the hard sciences from a top tier school I just have to say that in response to your comment. If you think science careers, be they academic, industry, or government, are much better than what Bing describes, you are thoroughly out to lunch. Science is even more insidious because you don’t even get money in reward for signing away the best years of your life, and those ’scientific accomplishments’ they use as a carrot/stick instead often feel empty as well. Science has more in common with the double-edged sword of non-profit work and it’s imperfect idealism than it does with business. After a few years of exploitation I jumped ship and now run a few internet businesses. Now I have a martini outside in the sunshine instead of working unpaid overtime. Science and tech is no better than anything else and should not be entered into lightly. Bing is right on this one, particularly about the internet. A person still needs an education, and I don’t regret mine, but you have to balance that with not drinking too much of the “societal kool-aid” and getting screwed.

Forget the emphasis on money and success. We need our youth to concentrate on the arts and sciences. Their lives will be more fulfilling and what do you suppose success in business will mean when one day cars are flying and we are traveling to distant galaxies?

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

if Bing’s advice wasn’t enough, everyone else’s sure was.

I like the guy featured, majored in fine art, graduated and said “i want to be in marketing.”

Since the blog wasn’t published 3 years ago, I actually did it.

Things have gone well. Got a great job (took a few sh*&^y ones to get here). So at 25 I lead a great team, manage the offline marketing for my company, and get paid nearly 6 figures.

There are parts of my choice that I love. 1. Not being broke 2. Enjoying strange new things like vacations and restaurants with out drive through windows 3. Not knowing my pizza guy by name 4. No debt

That said, I am probably one of few of my friends that made this choice. My roommate and friends look at me like I’m an AARP card holder when I’m not down to play beer pong on a Wednesday night.

So there are probably some things I am missing out on, but I’m ok with that. I would rather miss out on back packing through Europe with $200 to last me a month, or mastering the beer bong abilities. But Ill get other perks like owning a home, and being able to retire well funded.

I think its different for everyone. For some twenty-somethings taking a few years off is entirely necessary, for others, not so much.

The choice is to fade out into euphoric enrapture like Elliot, or practice, practice, and more practice of one’s desired aspirations until one realizes them.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

We’re in a “World Economy” on a planet of six billion, plus, people.

Competition is keen for resources on a planet where the sun never sets.

If the kid is actually interested in hunkering down for a life time and is looking for stability, take some kind of government job. If you want all of that and some adventure, apply for a position with the Foreign Service.

I feel ancient at 26, yet every move I’ve made was in consideration of a career path that hasn’t yet emerged from under the dusty, dead grass.

Under what circumstances was this young man in your office? Does an entry-level interview at your company really yield a face-to-face with the Great and Iconic Bing?