The most common career mistake is people thinking that higher education or beyond will materially help them in their jobs, and so they spend too much time in academia.

I get so many people asking me how I managed to get into investment banking with a degree in physics. Within a few months the finance or economics guys had no advantage over me - I knew what I needed to know as well as them - most of the stuff they had learned at university was useless on the actual job.

Humans adapt amazingly well, but that adaptation is incredibly specific.

Studying computer science isn’t programming. Doing an MBA isn’t running a business. And studying finance isn’t living investment banking.