Ask HN: I am young teen. I have questions regarding software development careers

Founders can be any age. The latter, I've known some in their late 20's. So you are either thinking 5-7 years out or ~15.

I'm older than the average here, my startup was decades ago and I made my career in more traditional tech (cubicles and labs). But my experience was surrounding myself with smart (and smarter) people. You only need to be smart enough to recognize their talent(s). Putting skills together, keeping them together and finding a common goal is the mark of a good leader.

Many commenters here are pretty down on college, but for me, school was about meeting smart people. You can do it anywhere, there are other paths, but getting into a Tier 1 college will give you an advantage as there is always a clique. As a leader, you will want to round yourself out - business, psychology, marketing... where you will meet smart people of a different type.

Even if you don't have the great idea, by the time you finish your education you will probably be more well-rounded than your peers and you will have a lot of connections. So a few years in the cubicles, an MBA, deeper study and you can find a route to climb up to that ambition.

One other note - I got to where I was because a lot of other people thought a particular job was too hard. I "fell" into these jobs. There is really hard stuff out there, but it wasn't as hard as they thought. That got me more choices in my career.

Why ?