Should I chase money in something I may not like or be good at, or chase a risky feel-good career that I may not like or be good at?
The higher paying fields I could possibly jump into now that I'm out of college but unable to land a full time job (albeit requiring likely further education, self-teaching or even going back to college...) would be an area in tech, programming, computer science, or IT. But the problem is it's not really my passion. I don't wake up everyday wanting to code or learn new technology and such. I use a lot of technology... as a consumer, but not as a creator or someone naturally interested in learning it.
Now, can I tolerate it? Questionable... I get frustrated easily by programming even though I was decent at programming during my Business MIS degree, I'm not good at math, and I'm also concerned if I would be able to stand IT and the inherent need to deal with potentially disgruntled customers/clients.
Meanwhile I like random and mundane things like anime shit, fluffy dogs, reading books, being an advocate (before I suffered burnout anyway...) and... being kind. At least, that's what I think I like right now (admittedly I'm not in a great mental space).
... but none of those are really employable where I am, or at least not sustainably. I live in a HCOL in the Bay Area that essentially guarantees poverty or borderline poverty level if I were to try going for your altruistic, feel-good career (e.g. teacher, artist, animal technician, voice actor, musician, self-employed, writer, etc). There's a great deal of risk with any of those fuzzy warm "passion" jobs, and it's especially concerning that I could one day burn out (like I did with nonprofit volunteer involvement and leadership) and have it all wasted.
I'm also not already skilled or talented enough as an artist or musician who started at the age of 13 that I could feasibly stake out a career with it. It would take years if not over a decade of practice to become "good" enough, and there's plenty who are way more talented and younger than me who still don't "make it" with the creatives, so I certainly wouldn't be able to put any bread on the table without enough skill and luck.
If I chase money in tech, I can surely live sustainably here and also pay for hobbies, have a real impact through charity and such for things I care about. But am I really willing to go 80-90,000 hours for the rest of my life going down a soul-draining path I may regret? If you've heard of ikigai, well that's a problem... there's not much that I love, not much that I'm good at, and no overlap with what the world needs, or what you can get paid well enough for. People say don't pick a career for the money or you will hate it, or go for your passion, but I've heard plenty rebuttals like making your hobby your work is a good way to kill a passion, and money can buy you relief from worry.
So what is it? What do I do? What if I really don't have a passion or know what I can be damn great at? What if I have no real way of identifying the right intersection of natural interest, developed talent, tolerance of the cons in any career, leveraging my natural strengths, and financial prospects that can result in a good fit career?
Posted Jan 7, 2023, 2:01 AM UTC