A question for the crowd

[alexmegami]

Is it worth it to drop all your money-making capability to pursue a job you love?

Is it worth it if that job is something that very few people [get to] do, and holds a strong possibility that you won't be able to achieve paidness in that job?

Basically, how much do you [have to] temper your idealism with your pragmatism?


I mean, I don't think of my job as a "career". I'm a phone monkey. I don't think it's likely to lead into anything I'd like to do more. Should I therefore drop everything and pursue a line of work that won't pay much, if at all?

Does the answer change if I've discovered that "doing what I love" as work turns love into, well, work?

Or do I keep the job I have, where even if I don't love the work I'm doing (I don't really care one way or another) I do like the people I'm doing it with, and I'm making money so that I can afford the things that I do enjoy?

Because that, to me, is a perfectly reasonable compromise. Rather than making myself hate the things that I once enjoyed to try and make money off of them, I'll use work to fund the things that I enjoy.

Which seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Comments

[bluetears15.livejournal.com]

I'd say its worth it pursing a job not many want.
The job a person works as can define them as a person.
So i'd want to choose my job wisely and do something I love
and can be proud of. I'm not sure hookers are to proud of there
job but see when we find out someone is a prositute our
automatic reaction is what a slut. We dont mean to think it
but it pops up.
I'm glad that you'll work for the things you like.

[alexmegami]

I'm not meaning a job 'not many want', I mean a job 'not many do'. Say, authors or singers.

But then aren't we getting into, a job shouldn't define a person, or how we perceive a person? Their actions should define them more than their job title. Bill Gates and Kenneth Lay are both CEOs, you know?

I'm not not proud of my job. I'm proud of a job well done at my job, but my job title has very little to do with that.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm at a bit of a loss to offer advice/confirmation. This is the kind of intensely personal question that really, no one can answer but you - so much depends on individual factors in the situation.

Speaking as someone who's currently pursuing the compromise you advocate, however, I can say that it's worked for me for several years - but I'm just not certain it's going to work for much longer. At first it was a relief to have steady income with a job I didn't hate and people I liked, but the sheer grind of doing the same thing day after day is starting to seriously get to me. So while it might've been right for me a couple years ago, it's not feeling so much right now.

I think in the end, that's what it comes down to - figure out what's right for you right now, but be open to the fact that it might change. You don't have to decide your entire future while you're in your twenties. Promise. :)

[alexmegami]

I was literally posing it to the crowd. I already know what my current answer is. :)

[kisekinotenshi.livejournal.com]

Just for myself personally, I would be going for option number one. Of course, I am somewhat biased, because I'm attempting to base my life around option number one (because my intended career is opera singer), so my advice might be worthless to other people. I think that we as a generation tend to have the idea that any work that isn't what our lifelong dream is will suck, when in reality work itself is just that. No matter how much you like what you're doing, there are days that won't be stellar. My mom loves her job, and could only be happier at it if they paid her more (she makes a living wage, just barely, with help from the alimony). She still has days she comes home and wants to crash because she's so worn out, and days she doesn't want to go to work. She does anyway, of course, but just because she loves what she's doing doesn't mean she always enjoys working. Work is work is work.

Really, at this point, I would assess what you consider more important. Is this opportunity one that won't come around again? Is financial stability very important right now? It's all up to what you need right now.

[user-lain.livejournal.com]

Just be prepared to work two jobs.

99% of the professional ballerinas and dancers that I know make up their dance contracts by working at coffeeshops, restaurants and pubs.

If the people you work with are willing, you could try cutting back hours and adjusting schedules so that you can do both.

You're still young and you don't have kids, this is very feasible. Although what it WILL mean is that you probably won't have much time for gaming.

[alexmegami]

Again, I don't mean for -me-. As I said, I've found when I try and make things I enjoy into "work", they become work, not things I enjoy.

[user-lain.livejournal.com]

Ah, I understand.

Then have "work" and don't try to make "fun" into "work". Who care if someone looks at your job title and judges you poorly for it? That's not someone you'd probably want to associate with anyway.

It's a living and everyone's gotta make one. Alternately, you could always introduce yourself by your "fun" identity first.

"Hi! I'm Zhao Yi and I'm a dancer."
"So you make money as a dancer?"
"No, but being a dancer is more important to me than being a pharmacy monkey." or "Fuck you, that's an awfully personal question!" or "Well, I don't make a profit." :P

[jagwhier.livejournal.com]

I've recently discovered that the job that is just for fun, that doesn't pay well, will not make me happy.

I've come to terms with the fact that money means a lot more to me than I originally expected. But I'm okay with that. It allows me to do things I want to do outside of work. And life outside of work is infinitely more important than life at work.

So, that's the steps I'm taking right now. Getting into a field that I will excel at (because like you, a job well done is important to me), and that will give me the oppotunity to make a lot of money.


-Jason

[alexmegami]

Exactly! I mean, on the one hand, okay, I don't want to do a job that I hate. If I couldn't stand the people, or the work I was doing made me want to claw my eyeballs out, I wouldn't work that job. But if I've got the ability to walk out of work without taking it with me (most of the time) and it can fund my fun - well, who cares if I don't climb the corporate ladder or have a super-prestigious job?

[hakaisya.livejournal.com]

That's kinda where I am. I like my job, but it's my no means my ideal job. It's not too strenuous, pays decently, and the chance of me needing to work past 5 is....very very very slim. I mean, it happens, but it's not an expectation (like some jobs I've had).

It pays the bills, and gives me money for fun stuff, so yeah. Woo not being a leech on the system?

[shugahkitty.livejournal.com]

OMG, working a job that i enjoy is SO important! to the point where i sacrifice $. but then i'm like "FUCK, i have no $ to do the stuff i like..."

fine line, i guess. for me, i compromise by working the the industry i love, and hope eventually i'll make more money in it...i couldnt do a job i absolutely hated. but i dont think jobs define who ppl are.

ambiguous, generalized answer that is useless. but i REALLY believe in pursuing stuff you enjoy. REALLY do.