Quarter-life crisis?

March 20, 2005

So, another birthday...

At this point, as we reach our mid to late 20's, many of my contemporaries are starting to become highly successful in their professsional and/or personal lives, with promotions, artistic success, or earning enough money for it to make sense to vote Republican. Others are still reveling in the post-college extended adolescence and enjoying their free time. Then, there are those of us in middle-- close to a professional or graduate degree, and possibly even more broke and more unemployed than at the beginning of school.

So, what constitutes success? On one level, I would define success as having enough free time to go skiing regularly and the time to play music while also having the financial ability to support those hobbies. Professionally, I am going into law in order to be in a position to help people create cool things-- whether those things are music, tech gadgets, software, movies, books or companies. (Hence my interest in IP law.)

When I talk to a lawyer who has the kind of job that I would like to have, one question I ask is: what should I do to get that job. For the most part, the answer is "go work at a BigLaw firm for a few years" to get experience." Now, I will not dispute that the biglaw experience is an excellent learning experience. But the caveat is that there are more law school graduates each year than there are jobs in biglaw or prestigious clerkships.

Now, if this post were well-written, this paragraph would summarize into a coherent thesis and ask readers a provocative question that would create discussion. Unfortunately, these are just some thoughts that I haven't managed to summarize into a coherent thesis. This is also a bit more introspective than is usual fare here, but since this site is generally more self-indulgent than it is self-promotion, why not?