A quick bit from someone younger with a clearance.

I got my clearance at 16. (I remember it being a stretch). At the time, I worked with some top leadership within the Army, which is why I got it.

During my 3 years with the Army, I got to go to, see, and play with some very cool things. The work was fun and the pay was fantastic as a first job. Especially for a teenager.

While I would have loved to expanded on that experience, I decided to not continue options with the federal government after those years. Why? Not only is your job information and experience strictly controlled, but you are forced to be strict on yourself. Especially with my father having a clearance as well, I was constantly reminded that I couldn't go out and do some of the stupid shit that teenagers in high school could do. I couldn't go out and party and drink, I couldn't try drugs, I couldn't so much as get a speeding ticket without a threat of being arrested and taken to be interrogated and deemed a potential federal government risk.

I'm 21 now. I had gone from an S to a TS/SCI within those 3 years and still technically currently hold a clearance at that level. However the stress and weight on my shoulders of not being able to do anything even remotely resembling any type of crazy was a bit too much for me at that young age. So I opted out. After those 3 years, I left because I knew that if I continued, I wouldn't be able to experience and experiment with things that I knew I wanted to try.

The downside is that if I ever do go back to federal government work and fill out another SF80 and go through another SSBI w/ poly, then I'll have to admit to everything that I've done while in college. Which could potentially hurt me very much.

So if you're young and still want to experiment with illegal substances of any kind, or want to travel freely internationally (which I still cannot do without reporting) then I suggest you stay away from a security clearance job.

However if you can handle that type of restriction and meticiously documented life style, then go for it. You could potentially work with some astounding technology and see some very cool things.