Dear HN,

My son, 16, finished his O-level exams. He appeared in Maths, Physics, Chemistry, CS, and English papers.

He's a sharp and curious kid , and he is pretty good at exploring new things. He's a gamer, and a few days ago , he was making a "head tracker. " Upon insisting, he wrote about his experience in a Medium article. But he's not consistent and wastes time on social media doomscrolling. On the other hand, his knowledge about current affairs, policies, and science is pretty good. I had no idea about "Project Blue Beam," and he casually discussed it over dinner one day.

Coming to the point, being a major in CS/CE myself, I don't want him to pursue a career in CS, as I don't think it is as challenging as it used to be in the pre-AI era. On the other hand, he seems interested in STEM; he participated in a robotics contest and created a few personal circuits, but in general, he's not very good at things, mainly because he gets bored or wants to play most of the time and spends that time on social media. He does read books, but is not very fond of them. I recently forced him to read Naval's Almanack, and he has been reading one or two pages a day. What advice would you give to a young kid that will help him counter challenges in life and career? And what should I fix or do as a parent?

We are from Pakistan.

I think you should ask him what he wants to do and talk to him about tradeoffs with each option. What he wants is more important than any advice from me or anyone else online (including Naval). Life's gonna throw challenges at him whatever he decides, at least let him enjoy the journey.

I'd recommend looks or rizz maxxing. I hear there's too many wieners and not enough buns in your country.

> We are from Pakistan.

But are you in Pakistan?

That is one of the fundamental questions. Because if he is in Pakistan, the best thing would be to go to university and have a path to citizenship in another Anglophone country (but not the US, for obvious reasons). Canada probably ideal.

His next steps should be geared towards that goal.

Don't fill his head with Naval Ravikant garbage.