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My career path has been pretty straightforward. I went to a state science and engineering university with a starting major in physics but switched to electrical engineering after two years. While there I had a few student jobs at the various campus labs, helping with research projects and doing some simple programming.
After I graduated I got a job at a small nearby observatory where several friends worked. I started by operating and maintaining the telescopes then did some software work to expand our capabilities.
Once my partner graduated, I found a job in the nearby city at a small engineering firm that mostly did subcontracted work for the big defense companies. I split my time there between electrical engineering and embedded software development.
After several years there, I realized that there was no real path forward due to living in one of the big square states so I started looking and found a job with an established Bay Area company through a friend. Since then I’ve worked at a few different companies, from tiny startups to the FAANGS. I’ve generally moved up every couple years and now manage a large team at a mid sized startup. Like most engineers, I’ll probably never be really rich, but always comfortably employed.
There are three things that really helped my career.
College - I know, it’s expensive and such. But even so, it is so worth it. Sure if you get a degree in underwater basket weaving at an expensive private university or it’s probably a financial waste, but STEM degrees are an excellent investment. It’s not just the paper, but the experience, contacts and friends that come from a traditional on-campus in-person university.
Friends - The majority of my jobs, and in particular the ones I’ve needed and enjoyed the most came from friends and colleagues. Make those connections, be a good friend, and good things will happen.
Hobby programming - I started writing code in elementary school in BASIC. Later in college I would experiment with small programs to scratch an itch, learning C++ and Python from books on my own. Those experiences were vital in my ability to learn how to tackle new problems and learn how to execute when I had to.
Bonus point 4) Reading “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Seriously, learn to plan and execute. Don’t be a flakey “ideas person”, get shit done.
Other thing about an engineering degree is, if it's a good school, it'll teach you as much about how to go about figuring things out as the specific topics themselves. Not even field-specific technical stuff, but "Here's my goals, how do I figure how to get to them?" or "I don't understand this; what is my strategy for acquiring more information about it?"