A college degree is not the same thing as a career plan

When I graduated college in the early 1990s, I was ready to start my career. The only hitch was that I had no idea how.

Armed with a degree, boundless optimism, and zero practical knowledge of how to get a job, my grand entrance into the workforce led me straight to a mall software store, where I became a proud purveyor of floppy disks and CD-ROMs for just above minimum wage.

That was not exactly the triumphant start I had envisioned after years of all-nighters, working my...