Roblox CEO, once a cleaner, says his early career struggles mirror Gen Z’s challenges: 'Ignore advice, trust…'

As global hiring slows and young graduates struggle to find direction, Roblox CEO David Baszucki has revisited his own uncertain early career — a phase he says was defined by rejection, confusion and what he now calls the “absolute worst jobs in the world”.

Baszucki, who today leads a gaming platform valued at roughly $60 billion and has an estimated personal net worth of $5 billion, shared his journey while addressing students at Stanford University, his alma mater.

‘A terrible time right out of college’

Despite graduating from one of the world’s most prestigious universities, Baszucki said his career failed to gain momentum after college. His dream role never materialised, his CV lacked depth, and his limited work experience included a summer job cleaning windows with his brother.

“I can remember in this terrible time right out of college trying to figure out what I was going to do,” he told students.

Baszucki said this period of uncertainty closely mirrors what many Gen Z graduates are currently experiencing as job opportunities tighten worldwide.

‘A really weird way’ to choose a career

Instead of trusting his instincts, Baszucki said he relied on logic-heavy career planning — a decision he now views as misguided.

“Rather than trusting my intuition, I can remember having a spreadsheet of nine potential careers and then all these metrics — ‘it’s really good for this, but it’s not so good for this’. It was, like, a really weird way to try to figure out your career,” he recalled.

That experience, he said, taught him a lesson he would carry throughout his professional life.

‘Trust your gut’: Ignoring advice shaped his success

“A lot of my development has been trying to, over time, ignore advice I’ve been given,” Baszucki told students, as quoted by Fortune. He encouraged graduates to rely on their instincts, especially when external guidance feels overwhelming. “Trust your gut,” he said.

Years of disappointment and ‘absolute worst’ jobs

After securing a salaried role post-graduation, Baszucki spent several years moving through jobs he later described as the “absolute worst”. Frequent setbacks and dissatisfaction forced him to pause and reassess his long-term direction.

That moment of reflection proved pivotal.

First breakthrough — and another reset

Baszucki went on to found Knowledge Revolution, an educational software company that he sold for $20 million in 1998. Following the sale, he expected offers for senior executive roles to follow.

Instead, he once again found himself without a clear next step — a situation that pushed him to create something new from scratch.

“Time and time again, you have to participate in making your own reality,” he told Fortune earlier this year.

From uncertainty to Roblox’s global success

A few years later, that mindset culminated in the creation of Roblox, which now records more than 150 million daily active users worldwide and stands as one of the most influential gaming platforms globally.

Baszucki’s message to today’s graduates, he said, remains simple: uncertainty can be the starting point — if you trust yourself enough to move forward.