I’m a machine learning engineer with ~4 years of experience. Is my fastest path to wealth working a 9-5 job and freelancing?

Hello entrepeneurs,

I'm a machine learning engineer with ~4 years of experience. Over some time (can be 10-15-20 years, or shorter if possible), I want to have around 1 million USD in index funds and a fully paid off real estate or two (or more). I am willing to work 50-60 hours per week, but probably around 50-55 on most weeks.

I was wondering what is the fastest path to wealth for someone in my position? I'd like to leverage the machine learning knowledge I have. I can also do something else unrelated to machine learning, but I think it'd be a waste to not use it to make money. Since I don't really have any startup ideas, I had the following ideas:

• work a 9-5 job and save money (I'm already doing this)
• freelance on nights and weekends
• make educational courses (i.e. on Udemy) and sell them

Option #3 seemed lucrative in the beginning, but seeing how the market is already saturated with educational content I decided to stick with the first two options for now.

The reason I created this post is just to get an outsiders perspective; maybe I'm oblivious to something that could really be a "money-making machine".

I'd appreciate your 2 cents.