A truly disoriented 22 student

yes. glad you shared!

you should build something, while you look for paid work or look into continuing on with a master's degree (i have two masters! 👍🏻).

this is a great place to try a new idea out, build something small and share your progress, and learn something new. this is the time.

but, i was so inspired, i did this for you:

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/a-letter-to-my-22-year-old-self-on-entrepreneurship-49d70f8f81

thank you for letting me share this with others here on indie hackers!

Don't beat yourself up about not feeling satisfied or fulfilled, there's 2 infographics I really like referring to:
1.) https://i1.wp.com/improvisedlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Its-never-too-late-to-start.jpg?fit=790%2C624&ssl=1
2.) https://www.mymoneyblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/notlate2.jpg

I'm 37 and on my 4th startup, none have been successful so far. I feel like one of the biggest differences now from when I was 20 is that I now have the maturity & experience to see my own flaws/weaknesses and hire/partner around those. It's sort of a case of young people don't know what they don't know.

My advice:

• Get a job and do some work in the field for a break between your bachelor's and masters. The work experience, IMO, provides invaluable real world perspective and confirms the money spent on a masters is the right decision.
• Read 'Who Moved My Cheese' by Spencer Johnson. I found it useful in understanding changing priorities/goals. From that book I learned to think in terms of problem->solution->action, which informs a lot of what I think about startups and problems I'm solving.
• Read 'Project Management for Unofficial Project Managers' by James Wood, Kory Kogon, and Suzette Blakemore. IMO a developer is only as good as their ability to manage a project, set achievable expectations, and deliver the right thing and on time & on budget. If you deliver the exact project specifications but the project never get's used because the wrong questions were asked at the outset its a failure even though the specs were filled.
• Look for small volunteer tech projects you can do for free to gain breadth of experience and really understand what you [don't] enjoy. The sooner you know that the more of your career you'll enjoy.
• Alternatively, contribute to Open Source projects as a good way to build a resume and gain breadth of experience. That's certainly something I wish I had done more of (I've done almost none as a result of being too busy).

I hope that helps and feel free to reach out if you have any more questions,

Tik Tok does the clock,
as an inevitable death approach.
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Do it now.