If there were one piece of advice which I would give to a young person that I think is applicable to every career (and other parts of life) it would be:
You have to say what you want, out loud. No one can see inside your head. If you want to do a job or get into an area, you need to say so.
Seriously, I got into novels by doing an MFA but I work in games and make radio because I kept on saying how much I’d like to make a game and how much I’d love to present a radio programme.