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In response to the need for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey to explicitly engageearly career astronomers, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, andMedicine hosted the Early Career Astronomer and Astrophysicist Focus Session(ECFS) on October 8-9, 2018 under the auspices of Committee of Astronomy andAstrophysics. The meeting was attended by fifty six pre-tenure faculty,research scientists, postdoctoral scholars, and senior graduate students, aswell as eight former decadal survey committee members, who acted asfacilitators. The event was designed to educate early career astronomers aboutthe decadal survey process, to solicit their feedback on the role that earlycareer astronomers should play in Astro2020, and to provide a forum for thediscussion of a wide range of topics regarding the astrophysics career path. This white paper presents highlights and themes that emerged during two daysof discussion. In Section 1, we discuss concerns that emerged regarding thecoming decade and the astrophysics career path, as well as specificrecommendations from participants regarding how to address them. We haveorganized these concerns and suggestions into five broad themes. These include(sequentially): (1) adequately training astronomers in the statistical andcomputational techniques necessary in an era of "big data", (2) responses tothe growth of collaborations and telescopes, (3) concerns about the adequacy ofgraduate and postdoctoral training, (4) the need for improvements in equity andinclusion in astronomy, and (5) smoothing and facilitating transitions betweenearly career stages. Section 2 is focused on ideas regarding the decadal surveyitself, including: incorporating early career voices, ensuring diverse inputfrom a variety of stakeholders, and successfully and broadly disseminating theresults of the survey.