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The problem with focusing on passion as a driving force is that it reverses the direction of how professional "passion" is often developed - through experience.
by Clanan 10y ago
The problem with focusing on passion as a driving force is that it reverses the direction of how professional "passion" is often developed - through experience. I can't find the source now[0] but I recall reading about research investigating professional passion in college administrators. It found that passion was directly related to work years. In other words, experience and advanced skills bred more confidence and passion over time.
The other problem with making passion a mandatory requirement is that it's selfish. Passion has nothing to do with providing value, which is largely what yields professional success. Most people are passionate about their fun hobbies, but that doesn't mean they should pursue them professionally. If an employee isn't passionate about coding but gets the job done, then what's the problem?
[0] Study Hacks blog by Cal Newport, maybe?
- shostack 10y agoInteresting notion.i can certainly see that applying to me. I'm a digital marketer and I love love love going deep on analytics, attribution, etc. as a part of that. However I wasn't even aware of half that stuff when I was first starting out. Professional experience led to greater and deeper exposure of new areas of the discipline that were way more interesting to me than the fundamentals that first got me interested. I now engage in discussions on those topics with other professionals in my spare time because it interests me beyond my job.