Hello. 22M here. Majoring in Physics, 1st year. Looking for decent earning options, almost as a whole career, but I have no idea which way to go.
Let me tell you a bit about myself. I have a strong fictional imagination, basically a writer's mind. English is not my native language. But I've practiced one or two short stories in my own language.
I have created multiple plots for multiple stories. I've intentions to start writing soon on them.
Anyway, I have close to zero bit of knowledge about coding. I only know html.
I had the time to pursue further into other languages like python, C, C++, but I'm very weak in mathematics. So I didn't learn further coding. I also didn't learn much mathematics, which has put me in an almost degraded institution for honours.
My current mental state cannot focus on one thing to pursue, I don't know why. Sometimes it gets all motivated to write the story, and other times, it gets depressed thinking about how AI is taking all the jobs and I have to learn to code to battle against AI with my own AI.
So this is the overall depiction of my shattered mind and life. I also come from a lower-middle class family. So money is scarce.
I don't want to argue about my moral ethics that if I want to earn money quickly, I can do this or that over my innate talent etc.
What I want to know is, which way will first build a strong foundation of knowledge within me and will keep me going for the long run along with the money.
Because, if I have to learn to code, I also have to study mathematics, if I want to write, I also need to research for a long time before I can even layer the elements inside the story.
My laptop broke 2 years ago and I've been on my android since then. I'm going to buy either a laptop or a tablet soon.
And a tablet adds another way which is digital arts. I don't know how to draw at all. But, as I said, whichever way I choose, I'll have to spend a bit long amount of time to actually train myself to be sufficient on that path. So I have no problem getting introduced to such new ideas and paths and spending time to get along with them.
I also got stuck between the device choice. If I buy a laptop, I'll be able to learn to code and to write my stories. And if I buy a tablet, I'll be able to learn to be a digital artist and can also write my stories but no coding.
So, the way the world's economy is going, which way and which device should I go after?
Usually I’ll answer product management because that’s what I do and I enjoy it (and I had no idea this career existed while I was in school), but reading this I actually think it could be a good fit for you, depending on how you feel about socializing with people.
I have an English degree but I also worked at an IT company every summer from high school through college, doing many different jobs with an increasingly technical focus. I taught myself HTML and CSS when I was like 10, but except for one high school class of Java I never got deeper into coding than that.
My interest in language and words combines with my technical aptitude in product management. I usually describe it as a job of translation, because I have to work with customers, internal users, business leaders, designers, and developers, and I need to be able to talk to and listen to all of them and understand their context well enough to translate to the other groups. I might need to tell the exact same story half a dozen completely different ways depending on my audience.
There are lots of different approaches to product management and every company does it differently, but some of the critical skills are being able to identify and deeply understand problems (of the business, of customers, etc.) and propose solutions to those problems.
It sounds like you have some technical aptitude but also interest in language and story telling (and a big part of product management is writing what are literally called “user stories”), so if you don’t mind the people interactions, it might work for you too.
I’ve been on or involved with Product teams for about 10 years now and had an actual Product Manager title for over 6, managing a team of PMs for the last 3. I feel like I found it by accident but I totally lucked into a career I actually love, so I’m happy to talk to people about it any time!