Choosing your career, money vs passion

My sister is currently getting a lecture from my dad after uttering these fatal words: "I'm dropping my sciences".

My other sister is currently pre-med, but she recently added a non-science major, and would like to go into fashion designing instead, if it weren't for the pressure of our parents.

I'm with my parents... I personally care a lot about money and I would like to make lots of it. My sisters and I are all artistic but I gave up art years ago to concentrate on something that will make me guaranteed money. Fortunately for me, I actually enjoy what I'm doing and I'm passionate about something that I know will make me lots of money.

But if you had to choose between one or the other, ie. something you don't enjoy that will make you money vs something you love that might not make you a lot of money and might leave you unemployed for long periods of time, what would you choose?

Be happy and survive. Those are the two most important things for me, though that might change some if I get a family of my own.

Passion. What's ultimately most important is your self-satisfaction, and there's no worse feeling that slaving off to work everyday to a job you hate. There's more at stake here than money - it's your personal autonomy.

money do your passion as a hobby get lots of money then retire and do whatever you want

Depends. Art, I'd drop it and go with the cash. You were smart to do it. Only about one percent of people make a living off of it. For me, I love chickens. I would love to be a chicken farmer, but it doesn't make enough money to support a family. So I am going to college for Poultry science and find a good paying job in the poultry career.

My dad picked passion, which meant no food in our belly, till we left him.

Money, sometimes

What else beside a computer and xbox could I want? Kit kats, good books, debates, xbox, learning, and piracy= Me happy. :) Oh, and dubstep.

I'm a music major so I definitely don't plan on being rich, however I decided to go with the more guaranteed money making sub-division of music majors and went with a specifically music education major. Rather than trying to just get money from performing after college, I can conduct a highschool band and still gig on the side. That's how my studio teacher got started and now he makes serious bank working at my college and playing in the Dallas Opera.

Can't eat passion.

At 3/15/2012 10:26:58 PM, OMGJustinBieber wrote:
Passion. What's ultimately most important is your self-satisfaction, and there's no worse feeling that slaving off to work everyday to a job you hate. There's more at stake here than money - it's your personal autonomy.

But if your passion becomes your job, doesn't that kind of take the life out of it a bit, especially when it's art?

I do agree that it's not a good idea to stay with a job you hate. But a job you can tolerate and makes lots of money doing LOL

My youngest sister originally aspired to be an orthodontist (sp?). Dropping her science courses to do "art" effectively makes that no longer possible. And it's not like she's doing poorly in the sciences... her lowest grade is Physics and she's still getting an A in that.

But if you had to choose between one or the other, ie. something you don't enjoy that will make you money vs something you love that might not make you a lot of money and might leave you unemployed for long periods of time, what would you choose?:

Following my dreams has never gotten me anywhere. I now live by four words.

SHOW ME THE MONEY.

You can always follow your passions on the side. I'm a drummer; love it! But I have no aspirations to do it full-time and become a starving artist.

At 3/16/2012 10:03:12 AM, PARADIGM_L0ST wrote:

But if you had to choose between one or the other, ie. something you don't enjoy that will make you money vs something you love that might not make you a lot of money and might leave you unemployed for long periods of time, what would you choose?:

Following my dreams has never gotten me anywhere. I now live by four words.

SHOW ME THE MONEY.

You can always follow your passions on the side. I'm a drummer; love it! But I have no aspirations to do it full-time and become a starving artist.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

That's not to say there isn't a trade off between money and job satisfaction. I wouldn't quit my job to get a job shovelling sh!t just because it paid more. But neither am I going to quit my job and take another at half salary because it's my "passion."

Fvck. I don't even know what my "passions" are. There are a ton of things I enjoy doing, but I don't know how doing that as a job would affect my enjoyment. Being forced to do something 40 hours a week can alter anyone's perception.

This question reminds me of Office Space:

Peter - Our high school guidance counselor used to ask us what you'd do if you had a million dollars and you didn't have to work. And invariably what you'd say was supposed to be your career. So, if you wanted to fix old cars then you're supposed to be an auto mechanic.
Samir - So what did you say?
Peter - I never had an answer. I guess that's why I'm working at Initech.
Michael - No, you're working at Initech because that question is bullsh!t to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean sh!t up if they had a million dollars.

Eh. Once I finish my degree I'm going to be a hobo.
Just seems right.

At 3/15/2012 10:21:53 PM, nonentity wrote:
My sister is currently getting a lecture from my dad after uttering these fatal words: "I'm dropping my sciences".

My other sister is currently pre-med, but she recently added a non-science major, and would like to go into fashion designing instead, if it weren't for the pressure of our parents.

I'm with my parents... I personally care a lot about money and I would like to make lots of it. My sisters and I are all artistic but I gave up art years ago to concentrate on something that will make me guaranteed money. Fortunately for me, I actually enjoy what I'm doing and I'm passionate about something that I know will make me lots of money.

But if you had to choose between one or the other, ie. something you don't enjoy that will make you money vs something you love that might not make you a lot of money and might leave you unemployed for long periods of time, what would you choose?

You can't guarantee lots of money. However, if you do what makes you happy, then you can guarantee that you'll be happy.

Money is the opposite of everything.

At 3/16/2012 2:07:05 PM, Ren wrote:

You can't guarantee lots of money.

But you sort of can. Have you ever met an unemployed doctor?

However, if you do what makes you happy, then you can guarantee that you'll be happy.

Ehh I don't know... In the words of some Canadian rapper (I forget his name) "money can't buy me happiness, but I'm happiest when I can buy what I want anytime that I want, get high when I want". (minus the last part)

Money is the opposite of everything.

What do you mean?

At 3/16/2012 2:56:18 PM, nonentity wrote:

At 3/16/2012 2:07:05 PM, Ren wrote:

You can't guarantee lots of money.

But you sort of can. Have you ever met an unemployed doctor?

Yes.

...moreover, young doctors struggling for years after their residency is complete is rather commonplace.

No, hun, you can't ever guarantee even a little bit of money.

However, if you do what makes you happy, then you can guarantee that you'll be happy.

Ehh I don't know... In the words of some Canadian rapper (I forget his name) "money can't buy me happiness, but I'm happiest when I can buy what I want anytime that I want, get high when I want". (minus the last part)

I see some heady disillusionment in your future. Money is weaksauce. It's a way to access the production of others without producing anything fruitful of your own directly in return. Instead, it's a 'credit' suggesting that you produced for someone else in like fashion at some point.

It has nothing to do with happiness. If you're unhappy, you will be with or without money. Alternately, it's possible to happy without money. In fact, some would claim that it's easier to be happy without money. Some of those countries in the Netherlands have relatively low (or, even, extraordinarily low) GDP's, but their people are considered among the happiest on earth. Why? Because they know how to live, with or without money.

Money is the opposite of everything.

What do you mean?

Money isn't everything. And, in fact, it's not not everything that it's antithetical.

Money is just a means to an end; a way to get around. It's how to get shtt done and get what you want. Happiness is something different entirely; to commodify happiness is to reduce your entire psyche to the limits of the capacity of everything you own, which, if you really think about it, should reduce you rather significantly.

I'd also add that you feel obligated to become an engineer (in my case) just because most people aren't fortunate enough to have that opportunity.

Trust me, the passion wears thin fast. I've changed careers 4 times. Go for the money and pursue your passion as a hobby. If you can turn a profit to pay for the hobby as I do, all the better. My first career was my passion, at the end I hated it because I had to do it. A passion is enjoyed most when you feel like doing it not when you are forced to do it to pay the bills. My first carrer is now my hobby and I love it again.

that question is bullsh!t to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean sh!t up if they had a million dollars.:

Yup.