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The issue I have with seeing life advice posts is that I've begun to see this dichotomy between "follow your heart" advice and "follow your head" advice. And I
by icesoldier 14y ago
The issue I have with seeing life advice posts is that I've begun to see this dichotomy between "follow your heart" advice and "follow your head" advice. And I personally have a split between the two: my degree is in CS and my current job is in programming, but by "pie in the sky" dreams involve writing and performing music. I happen to have more knowledge in the former as a consequence of my degree, but I didn't really passionately pursue any major side projects. (This hindered my job hunt slightly, but I still managed to circumvent it via personal connections. It does pay to know people, in my experience.)
As I was closing in on the end of my college degree plan, I felt torn between these two seemingly divergent ends. As a result I crept into a disillusioned depression fueled by the realization that it was too late to switch degrees that wildly and by firsthand experience of the job hunt as a CS student from west Texas with little heart in the industry.
So I'm just taking solace in the fact that I'm working a job with a really short commute and a good environment where I can go home at 5:00 and pursue music as a hobby. I might even notice eventually that my life's passion doesn't land in either music or programming, and to be honest I'd be okay with that if it gave me a direction to point in. But at this point, having only graduated from college this year (turning 23 next week), it feels like I just need to to something. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm coasting now that I've "made it" out into the world relatively unscathed.
- jevanish 14y agoHave you thought about trying to find the intersection of the two? Is there a company or something you can work on that takes advantage of both skillsets? I think the real challenge in life is to get heart and head in alignment. It's not easy, but who said it would be?
- icesoldier 14y agoI had put some thought in that direction, and thought about finding companies that made DAWs. However, this space turned up dead ends, at least when I was looking. The other thought I had was indie game dev, which I thought needed a bit more time investment than I had before it would pay off. (I was thinking in terms of when I was finishing college, after which I would have to escape the shadow of my parents, who can only be so nurturing.) And I like your point there about the challenge of life.
- mattgreenrocks 14y agoYou have plenty of time to change your trajectory! Bank some money, and don't give up on software so easily.
- icesoldier 14y agoThat's the idea I have at this point. There are parts of software I enjoy - why the hell else would I stay in a degree program with a ~20% retention rate? - but it's not something I find quite inspiring at this point. But another thing the post and the other comments made me realize is that my 20's as a whole can be an experimentation ground, and I have plenty of time left in that block.
- mattgreenrocks 14y agoA good friend of mine programs to support her work as an artist. It's not a perfect setup, but no one said you have to be all-in on your career your whole life.