There are two types of white collar jobs

Builders and Researchers.

Software Engineers are Builders. Consultants are Researchers. Architects are Builders.Investment Bankers are Researchers. Founders kind of do both.

Data Science

What I didn’t realize as a High Schooler when I picked Data Science as my major was that it is very much a Research type role. I also didn’t know I would grow up to like Building more than Researching.

These days I find it so much more fun and interesting to think about what tool I could make that makes people’s lives easier, how to make it, how to optimize this process, etc. This is a Builder type role. Meanwhile Data Science is a Research type role. It’s more about answering questions. Important questions, yes. But once that question gets answered, someone still has to actually build it into the real world and put it into use.

I still quite like research type work, but it just doesn’t produce the same spark as building and engineering.

My other choices of study

Econ

My biggest regret in college, academically. I should’ve just taken more Math classes. While I have an interest in the field, it’s not practical career-wise for anything except Economics research. The little practical things you do learn are either self-teachable (intuition about equilibrium, efficiency, and expected value) or aren’t really taught unless you actively seek out tutorials and online bootcamps (R, Stata).

Math

Intellectually stimulating, still not as fun as building stuff. I do hope all the theoretical stuff I’m learning in my Math classes will come in handy one day, but right now it seems not. Not only is it quite niche, but I think maybe I’m just not smart enough to find novel ways to apply them (like Math research), unlike tech and engineering where I always see ways to apply what I’ve learned to make things more efficient. I’m smart enough to get an A+ by doing well on Math exams, though. Maybe if I pursue a graduate degree, I’ll learn more and realize its applications.