A few weeks ago, I was invited as a speaker at the Career Day event in a local High School. The staff had asked me to describe the line of work I am doing and give some insights about Software Engineering as a job.
During my speech to the kids, after following my own structured script on the topic, I told them to focus on the following four things - regardless of what careers they decide to pursue.
Communication skills: writing an email typically is more important and delicate matter than one might think; it is a binding business document! Be clear and precise in what you are communicating. Assume it will be forwarded to the folks whom you would not prefer it to be :)
Team-work skills: Doing solo work is less and less important and bigger and better things come from awesome team work! If you don't excel in this area, advancement is hard to realize.
Find a mentor, or two or three: Being in touch with someone who has already walked the path you are planning to take brings immense value and saves time & minimizes agony. Having multiple mentors from different experience levels adds more richness to your career vision. Just don't expect them to have all the answers!
Learning never ends: Information is doubling every year, or probably faster since I last looked. However cliche it might sound, very true. Keeping yourself up to date with current knowledge & skills keep you going where you want to go.
I wish back in my day during High School there were a Career Day and a someone told us things like that then. If you agree, please pay forward as you see fit.