What to do after High School?

You can sit at your desk for years waiting for school to be over. But as you get closer to leaving, you suddenly start thinking about the future.

What’s next?

It’s exciting, but it also feels like you’re supposed to already know what to do, and everyone around you seems to have their path laid out. For some of us, can be a little overwhelming, because up until last week you were just thinking about class, and now you’re supposed to have a 10 year plan? 

Well no, not really. The trick isn’t to map out the next decade of your life. It’s to have an idea and start moving toward it, while staying open to change.

If you’re not sure what to do next, that’s okay. There are plenty of ways forward. Some are structured, some are flexible, and some you can just try out to see how they feel.

Why listen to me?

I’m old! (Well kind of). I just turned 44 last week. Not only that though, but I've had a crazy life so far. I’ve lived in multiple countries, worked dead-end jobs, and made more money in a day than I used to make in a year.

I don’t have all the answers, but I can tell you about some of the best options out there right now, and what the pros and cons of each one really are, because I’ve done most of them.

Maybe it’ll help you decide, or spark some alternative ideas for your own future.

Let’s dive in…

Stop and take a breather

It’s going to be tempting to rush into something right away, and if none of the things on this list stand out to you, don’t feel like you need to pick one or decide immediately.

It’s totally fine to take five minutes, catch your breath, and think.

Reacting to things in the short term is one of the easiest ways to make decisions you regret. So give yourself a little space. Think about what you actually want your life to look like.

• What do you enjoy?

• What do you want to do?

• Where do you want to go?

When I finished high school, I never asked myself any of that, and so other people started making decisions for me. Someone set me up with a full-time job at a bakery about a week after I graduated, and oh boy did it suck. I was working six days a week, from 6am to 3pm, making $80 a week. My rent was $50 of that.

A few weeks later, I found out my cousin was working at McDonald’s, making five times more, working easier shifts, and getting free food. If I’d taken five minutes to think things through, I could’ve made a better choice from the start.

We’ll talk more about jobs later. But for now, I just want you to see the value of stopping and thinking because taking a moment to ask better questions can lead you to better options.

Breathe.

This might take a little while to figure out and that’s OK. You may even read this a few times before you decide.

Travel and get some life experience

If you're feeling stuck, lost, or just a bit unsure, sometimes the best thing you can do is change your scenery. Travel gives you perspective in a way nothing else really does. It gets you out of the same habits, same conversations, and same opinions you've been surrounded by your whole life.

And no, you don’t need a huge bank account or a one-way ticket to Bali.

Some people go backpacking. Some book cheap flights and stay in hostels. Others join structured programs like Camp America, BUNAC, or au pair exchanges, where you live and work abroad for a few months and get your travel costs covered. 

It’s not always glamorous, but it gives you something most people don’t have right out of school, which is experience with real life.

This isn’t the only option either. You can try out other skills and see where they lead you.

For example

A friend of mine left school and got a job helping on super yachts, doing cleaning and odd jobs. He worked his way up, met all kinds of people, and learned skills he never would’ve discovered in a classroom. Eventually, he became a captain.

A big part of his job is sailing the boats to exotic locations and getting them ready before the owners arrive. He learned to sail, traveled the world, picked up business skills, made serious money, and even learned how to invest it.

Last time I spoke to him, he was renting a Ferrari for the day just for fun and had started his own energy drink company. All from an impulse trip when he left school.

Travel really can open you up to things you never thought possible, or didn’t even know existed. Even short trips can change the way you see things. You might find out you're more independent than you thought, or that you're interested in things you’d never considered before.

Heck, you might even realize you don’t want to be on the road long-term, but now you know that because you tried it, not because someone told you so.

You don’t have to travel for an entire year or even years. It can just be a few weeks away from home, in a new place, doing something different. And it doesn't have to be far. Even moving to another town to live with a relative, or visiting a friend in another city, can shift your perspective.

The key is that it gives you space to see your life from the outside, and once you’ve seen that, you can never really unsee it.

As kids our world view is made up of the people and experiences around us. So, we go through life with a set of core operating principles of what we think is possible or what options we have available.

Travel blows that wide open and changes how you think about the world.

Learn new skills (with or without college)

As you may have noticed, school isn’t always fun because it teaches you the basics of things, and it’s usually on topics you might not even care about. 

So it’s easy to come away thinking, meh, learning stuff sucks.

But right now, you actually have the chance to learn almost anything you want, and education has never been more available or widespread than it is today. You can go to college, learn online, or even take an internship. You’re not limited to where you live, or boring old topics. You can find things you love to do, so that you enjoy learning them.

The flips learning completely on its head and makes it so much more fun.

So which should you choose?

Well, college can be great for the experience and the life events.You meet people, get out of your comfort zone, and go through something structured. But the cost? Oh my god, it’s so expensive!

Online learning, on the other hand, is usually cheap or even free.

But you don’t get that same in-person interaction or structure, which can make it feel a bit lonely or confusing at times. Some of them have online communities to help you learn, but it's still not in person which you might either love or struggle with.

There are pros and cons to both, and it’s okay to do one and then switch. Or try both at different times.

For example

I went to college for 4 years for Mechanical Engineering because I liked solving problems and being creative. Then I got a job doing it, worked in the field for six months, and quit to travel the world for a few years. It just wasn’t what I imagined when I went through my course.

Years later I picked up marketing skills completely online, with no background in it at all.

I actually started a clothing company, sold that, started a marketing agency, worked with clients, and eventually ended up here. I now run the content at ZTM and have probably written over a thousand blog posts in the last ten years. Millions of people have read my work and I’ve published books and been on podcasts and all kinds of things.

One time, I published an article that got me over $3 million in client sales requests in a single week. Crazy right? (I didn’t say yes to them all but that’s how much I could have earned).

The thing is though, I had zero interest in marketing. In fact, I had never thought about it until I tried it and I'll be honest - I enjoy this way more than I ever enjoyed building engines.

It’s ok to pick one option and change. Heck, you should learn multiple new things as you go through life. The trick is to ask yourself those same questions again: What do I want my life to be like? 

That’s where it starts and its how you figure out the best option for you.

Here at Zero To Mastery, we teach people how to code even if they’ve never touched a line of code in their life. And I’ll be honest, I sometimes have to stop myself from convincing my friends to switch careers to coding.

Why? 

Because it ticks so many boxes in terms of lifestyle:

• You can learn it online in under six months

• The average salary is six figures, so you’re not constantly stressed about money

• You can work from anywhere with a laptop and internet connection

Case in point: our company is based in Canada, but I live in New Zealand and I work around my own schedule. I just came back from a Jiu Jitsu class in the middle of the day and now I’m writing this. Not many jobs let you do that. Marketing is one of them, but so is coding and they also get to build some really cool stuff.

And to top it off, a lot of these roles pay in USD, so depending on where you live, that can be a game-changer.

When I was younger, I thought all jobs were 9–6, for low pay, unless you were born into money. That was the world I saw around me. But then I started traveling, met people from different backgrounds, and saw how many other ways there were to live.

So ask yourself: What kind of life do I want? Then go learn something that might help you get there.

You don’t need a full plan. You just need to try. Pick a topic, learn a few things, and see if it’s something worth leaning into. College, courses, apprenticeships, or whatever path you take, you’ll enjoy it a lot more if it lines up with the kind of life you want to build.

If coding is your thing then we have a heap of free resources to get you started:

• Take our coding quiz to see which career would suit you or read this guide

• Learn how to code for free following this guide

Get a job (but don’t lock yourself in)

Okay, so let’s talk about the most obvious option, and that’s getting a job right out of school.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all. Sometimes you just need a bit of breathing room to figure out what’s next. Maybe there’s rent to pay. Maybe you want to move out and get your own apartment.

Entry-level jobs can actually teach you a lot such as how to work hard, how to show up on time, and how to get along with people you might never have met otherwise. I still look back fondly on my 3am finishes at McDonald’s, where I would be chatting with friends about the most random nonsense and the latest superhero movies.

The thing is, it’s easy to get stuck here. Either because it’s comfortable and the routine feels safe, or because you’re earning just enough to survive but not enough to leave and it kind of sucks. That’s fine if that’s what you want. But if it’s not, make sure you have a plan. Because time really does fly.

I remember chatting with one of our ZTM students who had been working as a waiter for almost 10 years. (I interview our success stories for the blog).

Anyways, he took our training, learned to code, and went from the lowest tax bracket to the highest literally overnight. This was just before he turned 30, so there’s always time to pivot and learn new things.

Meanwhile, I’ve got friends still working at McDonald’s almost 20 years later. Sure, they’re managers now but it’s only a few dollars more, and these are smart guys. The longer you leave it, the scarier it can get to make a change. You have kids or a mortgage and it all adds up.

Tl;DR

It’s completely okay to start with a job if you’re not sure yet. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Try different roles. Ask questions. Pay attention to how companies work. Notice what you enjoy and what drains you. Look for ways to move up, or use what you’re learning to open new doors.

And if you’re feeling stuck? Remember, you can always combine work with learning. Take online courses in the evenings. Start a side project. Freelance a bit. Or just explore things on the weekends to see what clicks.

An entry level job can be a great first step. Just make sure it’s a step and not the whole path.

Still unsure? Try a few things first

If you're still not sure what you want to do, don’t worry because that’s completely normal. Most people don’t know what they want their life to be like. Especially at such a young age. 

The best thing to do is ask yourself those questions and then just try things and see if you like them.

• What do you want your life to look like?

• What is your perfect day?

• What do you enjoy doing?

Then it's as simple as picking the option that matches this best for now, and then taking action. Because you’ll learn more from doing than you ever will from sitting around waiting for the perfect plan to show up. Move towards perfection in small steps.

Try a job. Take a course. Build something. Travel. Volunteer. Work with someone you admire. You don’t need to commit forever. And it’s 100% okay to still be figuring things out and to pivot even after years doing something.

I’ll be honest, not knowing what you fully want never really ends. The goalposts will always change, and that’s the beauty of life. Because you can always learn and try new things. And it’s okay to figure out what you want as you go.

You’ve got this! 😎.