High Blatman is right but we have to work with the times we have. Youth goes by very fast. I wouldn't have said anything but there was discussion of "going to school" without saying to study what.

Employment is not a neat formula anymore. It's not like "get this training, do this job." Who trusts you, what you can actually do no matter how you learned it, energy, willingness to be a little more tired, paring unproductive things like commuting and having a nice room and friends can matter.

Friends who just drink with you and tell a few jokes but aren't adding anything to your long term safety may be an unaffordable luxury. Fun, certainly, but a luxury.

It might be better to sleep next to the boiler on an inflatable bed and own the house ten years later.

In short, dorks may inherit the earth. Fun fellows may not.

It might be better to be an in-demand tradesman who also reads Shakespeare when he has time, than an unemployed analyst who drinks and plays games when he has time.

What set me off was the mention of "a buddy". That sounded like a solid not-just-drinking-buddy productive friendship.

But what do I know.