EVE New Citizens Q&A

It really depends on how your 4M sp is allocated. If you did like I did - which is to "race" to a BC or BS, then much of that 4M is tied up in combat skills for larger ships. YOU DO NOT WANT TO PVP IN LARGER SHIPS. Especially early on in your career. Simply put, you cannot afford to lose that Raven because it is likely 50%+ of your total net worth. If you cannot replace a ship without breaking your bank, you DO NOT take it out to PvP if you can avoid it.

Your non-carebear combat options are all going to involve considerably more risk than mission running. You likely know that. What you may not know is that they will also offer less steady income. Ninja-salvaging or ganking is going to involve you popping T1 carebear boats loaded with T1 gear that will net you very little isk. You should also know that many mission runners now know that it simply isn't worth shooting at that ninja-salvager anymore. Just warp out and let the mission rats scare him/her off. Do this once or twice and that pest is likely going to move on.

Faction Warfare can be VERY profitable - especially in purchasing expensive gear with LP and selling it on the market. A little dedication to FW will earn you steady income plus the huge windfall intermittently. At the same time, it will feel a lot like PvE and it will ruin your empire faction rep with the target faction. This will not be an issue at first, but do it long enough and you'll find yourself unable to safely enter entire sectors.

In my previous experience (5+ years ago), you are better served carebearing your way to (or near) 10M sp. At which point you join a corp and get the heck out hi-sec.

Good luck...fly safe.