One of the greatest gifts I was ever given is the freedom to choose my own path in life. However, as I progress in my academic career, the fear of the future seems to be catching up to me. The uncertainty and entropic nature of the future is one that keeps me up at night. Nonetheless, hopefully the path I set for myself caries out soundly. These are the three possible futures I envision for myself and are all possibilities I would be happy with:
1) A Job in Information Security
In recent times, I've begun to develop a passion for the field of information and Data Security. The complexity and intricacy required to understand concepts refined my existing knowledge to a greater depth that I didn't know existed. Information Security is the fastest growing field in Computer Science but is heavily in demand as more and more data is created every day. Obviously, I've only scratched the surface of this field and have a lot of learning to do in order to develop better techniques but it's something I'm willing to invest time into.
The pros to this would be that this, for me, is the ideal future, only because I love this field of Computer Science a lot. The con would be the fact that the field is ever-changing and difficult to keep up with, even for someone who works in it,
2) Create a Startup
If the first option doesn't work out, I could always create a startup company. I've always thought of doing this at some point in my life. All it takes is a good idea and the will to bring that idea to life. Contrary to popular belief, I don't feel that having the idea would be hard, but refining that idea into a product you're satisfied with and proud of would be harder to pull of. The market for startups is only growing larger and investors will look for the one with the brightest ideas. Being the CEO of a startup is an idea that excites me and I would love to face the challenges that this future would present me.
The pros to owning a Startup would be that I would experience a different world and develop new skills in business and economics. The con is that managing a startup and making sure it grows is hard due to the competitive nature of the startup market.
3) Be a travel blogger
A little different from the last two, is the idea of being a travel blogger. This idea, while being completely opposite from the two above, is one I would still be happy with. I love traveling and being able to record that into a meaningful blog for a living would mean that I would never have to worry again. The pro to this is the shear happiness I would feel. I can't even think of a con.