You should pursue university if you have any aspirations at all of working within science, tech, etc. The undergraduate degree is basically just "high school 2.0" at this point (in the US). Almost meaningless as far as education goes, but required to move on to master's and PhD programs.
No matter how shitty things get (and they will absolutely continue to get shittier for as long as Americans remain as reactionary as "we" are) education should always be emphasized above all else for young people. For everyone really, but especially the young.
All leftist movements of note have had academics, thinkers, educated people in their core who went on to be leaders. This education doesn't have to formal, although speaking anecdotally, I find it far easier to learn "tough" subjects (science, maths) within the confines of a university-type system. Other things can be learned on my own by reading and interacting with others who have read the same material.
The people for which it becomes a "question" in my mind would be those unsure of their vocational desires. If everything was free, I would 100% say "send everyone to get undergrad degrees!" However, reality being what it is, I think there should be hesitancy considering the lifelong consequences of massive debt. Unfortunately these are both individual decisions and, in my opinion, decisions impossible for a 16-18 year old to make. Yet our society forces them to make them regardless and holds them personally responsible... for the rest of their lives.
Even with the massive debt issue looming, I always lean towards "Fuck it! Education is always good!" Even just a generic liberal arts education or pursuing something like philosophy. You do gain a lot of experience and perspective you'd otherwise be denied just by being in a university with other students from all over. Even if you try to remain a recluse or focus on only studies, you will be forced almost by accident to learn something new about other people (which is of course a big reason conservatives have always hated universities. Not for "being liberal or leftist." They hate people connecting on a human level and learning that we're all the same.)
There is always the option of learning a trade skill. HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc. Not glamorous jobs, but absolutely necessary for the existence of society as we know it, and often well-paid once you get some experience. Impossible to automate or just "delete" away as well. They're also traditionally unionized more heavily (well, not HVAC). Who knows, maybe you could help unionize a non-unionized company.
I can say as someone who has chosen both paths (well "chosen" isn't the word... "lack of making a choice" leading to "well, guess this is what I'll do then...") that I wish I had known what I wanted in HS and had pursued university right away. But that also just isn't who I was or am. While it's easy to think "that's the most efficient path to "success"" (meaning highest compensation) it also wasn't realistic for me. I've always loved learning new stuff, anything from hands-on to book learning. I enjoyed learning how compressors work, and I enjoyed repairing/replacing them (among many other things, of course). I enjoyed learning electrical theory and then working on troubleshooting and repairing circuits all the way from small devices up to industrial sized cooling systems. I loved calculus, biology, chemistry (I majored in biology for my undergrad... much later in life than most students). I love learning but get incredibly bored once it goes from learning to working (terrible combo for most jobs).
I don't know what to tell young people who are like I was. People with the capacity to go on and learn anything pretty much but ultimately lacking any real motivation or "reason" to do... anything at all. I want to say "it'll work out." "Just do whatever makes you happy at the time." I don't know if that's true though... it did "work out" for me. Yet I know a solid dozen people not too much unlike myself for whom it did not work out. I think that's why I lean towards "just go to university if you can." It's the least risky of the gambles. Unless you know for a fact that you want to work in something like plumbing, which of course I encourage all young people to learn all the trade skills that you can, just get a taste of it and see what you think. But if you don't want to do that, and you want the best chance at a decent paying job later down the line, university, getting a degree, getting more degrees on your degrees, is the path as things stand currently.
Yeah, well, unfortunately for the US population (and world... since people use the products worldwide) if the Nazi-asses say it just barely in a slightly ordering or angry tone, Apple and Google (and everyone else) will immediately drop on their knees and start sucking toe.
This is sort of ironically one of the few areas that private corporations, if they found an ounce of value in doing so, could stand up to the might of the US Gov. In most cases the government (of any country, really) can simply legally steamroll any non-cooperative private corporations. Pass a few laws if they deem it necessary, but Trump seems to be more on a vibes-based EO signing spree. So there's no reason to think he wouldn't just sign a napkin and hand it to Tim Apple saying "I order you to listen to KASH FUCKING DUMBASS "ONE BILLION DONKEYS" Patel"
Google will 100% fold immediately. I thought they did years ago, but might be misremembering. Pretty sure they actively aid the FBI when they "request" assistance unlocking devices. Apple, at least publicly, still refuses to help. I think now they even claim they can't help at all even if they wanted to (which is the ideal standard, imo. Don't even let the corpos have the ability to implement backdoors)
Apple might make a show of it. I only say this because they do sort of sell their products with the tagline of "we keep your shit secure. See, look, we even tell the US Gov to fuck off regarding "terrorism" suspects' devices!"
I have basically no faith in their withstanding any actual amount of pushback though and without the backing of Google, MS, Meta, etc. to include any corporation that handles private, encrypted messaging of any sort... they will ultimately fail no matter if they resist or not. As a US corporation they are beholden by the laws of the US and, again, Kash "Donkeys in the Walls!" Patel strikes me as a "man" with so many chips on his shoulders that... well, I don't know the metaphor there. He's a very stupid person and also immoral, evil, however you wanna characterize him. So, he'd absolutely strong arm if necessary. Normally something I'd support from the gov (arresting corpo scum), but of course they'd only do so to advance the worst policies ever.