CZ shared in a recent episode of the All-In Podcast that one of his first jobs was working at McDonald's around the age of 14. He said the minimum wage in British Columbia, Canada, at that time was 6 Canadian dollars per hour, but McDonald's paid only 5.5 Canadian dollars per hour due to a special exemption clause. He started learning programming in high school. When choosing a university, he hesitated between the University of Waterloo and McGill University, and was influenced by a friend's mother to choose McGill to study biology. However, he switched to computer science after one semester. He avoided student loans by working part-time during summer vacations and the school year. He received some small support from his father and sister early on but later became completely self-sufficient. After his twenties, he transitioned into business development.