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Then maybe we should stop pushing the myth of "do what you love." There's nothing wrong with doing a job that you hate, going home, and using your acquired mone

Then maybe we should stop pushing the myth of "do what you love." There's nothing wrong with doing a job that you hate, going home, and using your acquired money to do what you love in your free time. The kids aren't creating this idea out of nowhere; this is handed down as the modern American dream from a generation that lived in an era of enormous lateral socioeconomic movement. We should probably stop looking down on people who do this (by choice or by necessity) and just embrace the fact that much of HN's readership is extraordinarily lucky that their job is their passion. Maybe if we taught that it's okay to have a job you dislike so long as it affords the things you do like, people would stop complaining that they didn't pull a winning lottery ticket like they were "supposed" to do.

crusso 11y ago
"Do what you love" is incomplete. It's "Do what you love that allows you to make some kind of a living". If I had just done what I loved out of high school, I would have watched TV between efforts to get together with girls and alcohol.
jerf 11y ago
"Then maybe we should stop pushing the myth of "do what you love." There's nothing wrong with doing a job that you hate," We should stop pushing the myth, yes, but we should not fall into the opposite extreme. The situation is in reality quite complicated and there are far more choices than "do what you love and be bankrupt" and "do what you hate and make money", and, for once, the complication works out in your favor. Job seekers: Make a list of your interests and talents. If you don't have a list, either think harder, or start trying some new things, stat. Order them vaguely by how much you like them. Now, go down the list, look out in the world, and ask what kind of living you can expect to make with that skill/talent/interest. Be realistic; for example, some musicians may make millions upon millions, but the median outcome is fairly poor. And be realistic about your level of talent/interest/dedication. Most people really ought to be able to find something that is both at least sort of interesting and at least sort of economically viable. After all, in the US, even "median" income is a pretty good outcome, especially if you don't hate your job. I practice what I preach. Technically, in a perfectly-aligned-for-jerf world, computer programmer is my second choice of job. My first-place job would be a music composer, preferably for games. (That's not just because "games are cool", but I actually like the idea of trying to create soundtracks that match up with the desired moods, and especially at the time games had much more interesting soundtracks than movies.) However, a sober and realistic examination of my skills, interests, and talents, matched up with my assessment of a rather high likelihood of total failure as a musician, along with the incredibly small number of slots available even under the best of circumstances, led me to discard that option, no matter how passionate about it I was. Everything in the 15 years since I graduated with my computer science degree has only reinforced my belief that I would have been a miserable economic failure as a composer. (It isn't necessarily "lack of talent", but that my talents led in a not-very-lucrative direction.)
- beat 11y ago
  I did that a long time ago... I had to decide between becoming a professional musician, or going back to school to become a software engineer. I looked at the relative outcomes, and here I am. In the basement studio I can afford to have because I make a good living, I have a framed dollar on the wall. I call it "The last dollar I made as a musician".
id 11y ago
>There's nothing wrong with doing a job that you hate Really? You don't see anything wrong with that?

crusso 11y ago

"Do what you love" is incomplete. It's "Do what you love that allows you to make some kind of a living". If I had just done what I loved out of high school, I would have watched TV between efforts to get together with girls and alcohol.

jerf 11y ago

"Then maybe we should stop pushing the myth of "do what you love." There's nothing wrong with doing a job that you hate," We should stop pushing the myth, yes, but we should not fall into the opposite extreme. The situation is in reality quite complicated and there are far more choices than "do what you love and be bankrupt" and "do what you hate and make money", and, for once, the complication works out in your favor. Job seekers: Make a list of your interests and talents. If you don't have a list, either think harder, or start trying some new things, stat. Order them vaguely by how much you like them. Now, go down the list, look out in the world, and ask what kind of living you can expect to make with that skill/talent/interest. Be realistic; for example, some musicians may make millions upon millions, but the median outcome is fairly poor. And be realistic about your level of talent/interest/dedication. Most people really ought to be able to find something that is both at least sort of interesting and at least sort of economically viable. After all, in the US, even "median" income is a pretty good outcome, especially if you don't hate your job. I practice what I preach. Technically, in a perfectly-aligned-for-jerf world, computer programmer is my second choice of job. My first-place job would be a music composer, preferably for games. (That's not just because "games are cool", but I actually like the idea of trying to create soundtracks that match up with the desired moods, and especially at the time games had much more interesting soundtracks than movies.) However, a sober and realistic examination of my skills, interests, and talents, matched up with my assessment of a rather high likelihood of total failure as a musician, along with the incredibly small number of slots available even under the best of circumstances, led me to discard that option, no matter how passionate about it I was. Everything in the 15 years since I graduated with my computer science degree has only reinforced my belief that I would have been a miserable economic failure as a composer. (It isn't necessarily "lack of talent", but that my talents led in a not-very-lucrative direction.)

beat 11y ago
I did that a long time ago... I had to decide between becoming a professional musician, or going back to school to become a software engineer. I looked at the relative outcomes, and here I am. In the basement studio I can afford to have because I make a good living, I have a framed dollar on the wall. I call it "The last dollar I made as a musician".

id 11y ago

>There's nothing wrong with doing a job that you hate Really? You don't see anything wrong with that?