Gen Z graduates are finding it harder to break into the job market, with early career progress increasingly delayed across the U.S. If that sounds discouraging, consider the story of Roblox (RBLX) co-founder and CEO David Baszucki, who recently told Stanford students that his own post-college years were marked by confusion, bad jobs, and the eventual realization that spreadsheets are a terrible way to plan your life.

The Post-Graduation Fog

When Baszucki graduated from Stanford in 1985 with degrees in electrical engineering and design, he expected things to fall into place. They didn't. "When I went to find a job, I was a little lost," Baszucki said. "Like, it just didn't land in my lap in a way."

His first taste of entrepreneurship came from a summer window-cleaning business he ran with his brother after another student casually suggested the idea. After graduation, direction remained elusive. The transition from school to working life felt unsettling as he worked to identify a clear next step.

Two Years of "Massive Disappointment"

That uncertainty didn't resolve quickly. Baszucki said the period stretched longer than he anticipated and was marked by frustration and repeated setbacks.

"There were two or three years of just the absolute worst jobs in the world," he said. "So two years of massive disappointment."

Faced with this confusion, Baszucki did what many analytically minded people do when they panic: he made a spreadsheet. He listed nine possible career paths and ranked each against detailed metrics, hoping the data would reveal the right answer. Looking back, he said the exercise was pointless.

"I can remember having a spreadsheet of nine potential careers and all these metrics," Baszucki said. "It was a really weird way to try to figure out your career."

Following Interest Over Analysis

Eventually, Baszucki stopped overanalyzing and started following what genuinely interested him. He shifted toward early consumer software and educational technology as personal computers became more common in households.

That pivot led to Knowledge Revolution, an educational software company built around physics simulation tools. The company sold for $20 million in 1998 without raising outside capital, which sounds like a clear win. But even then, Baszucki said things were still uncertain. He expected leadership opportunities to follow the sale and was surprised when they didn't, leading to another reassessment of his path.

The lesson he took from those years? Stop listening to everyone else's blueprint for success.

"A lot of my development has been trying to over time ignore advice I've been given," Baszucki said. "Trust your gut."

It's advice that feels particularly relevant for graduates navigating an uncertain job market. Baszucki's path from window cleaner to billionaire CEO wasn't linear, structured, or particularly logical by conventional standards. But it worked because he eventually learned to prioritize intuition over spreadsheets and external expectations. For Gen Z graduates worried about their own uncertain starts, that might be the most valuable takeaway: sometimes the best career path is the one that feels right, even if it doesn't make sense on paper.