Poll: Is it better to have a cool job, or a well-paying job?

BreakfastMan

Scandinavian Jawbreaker
Jul 22, 2010
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Speaking as someone who has a father who worked a job he hated for all of my life (so far) and the effect it had on him and my family, I say that having a job you enjoy is far more important than having one that pays big bucks. If you don't have one, it seems to me that you pretty much risk having a massive load of psychological problems, especially later in life. Choose the other, and you might not have as much money, but you will at least be happy, and that is far more valuable than all of the cash in the world.

Basically, having a job one enjoys makes it loads easier to achieve self-actualization. :p
 

CoS_Dorian

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Aug 31, 2012
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I would love to give my vote to cool, fulfilling job but that's so ideal and has never been the case with me so far. So gave my vote to the second option.
 

excalipoor

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Jan 16, 2011
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For me, money only matters up to the point where I don't have to worry about the rent or groceries. If I can live doing something I enjoy, then no amount of money is going to be an incentive to do something else. Unless of course it's enough to free me from all earthly obligations, in which case I can do whatever I want anyhow.
 

Froggy Slayer

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Jul 13, 2012
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It's on a scale. I call it the Cool/Cash scale. Ideally you want a job with a high quotient of both, but if cool outweighs cash by only a small margin, you can still go for it.
 

Cowabungaa

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Feb 10, 2008
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I'd rather enjoy doing something I'd be doing 1/3th of my day five days a week. It doesn't have to be a dreamjob just something I can happily do for quite some time.

Money? Eh, as long as I can live in relative comfort I'm good. I can balance my accounts well enough.
 

DoomyMcDoom

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Jul 4, 2008
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the way I see it, if you spend most of your time doing something that pisses you off, even having money in your time off, the residual stress can burn you out bad, whereas, if you have a job you love, or at least enjoy, as long as you can put food on the table and a roof over your head, and hopefully save for a nice relaxing vacation periodically, go for it!

of course this is coming from a guy who's lived on next to nothing for a loooong time, and at the moment is in debt has no job and almost no posessions to my name, I'm happy because I'm me, I like working with people, and if I get a job doing that, I tend to be happy at least to some extent, it's just that most of those jobs pay minimum wage at my level of qualification, so the word vacation for me has become synonimous with being layed off or quitting a job before working two more for a couple years and burning out, and going on vacation by quitting my jobs due to stress and developing psychosis' due to high stress life and insomnia, but hey... whatever floats your boat I guess.

As for me, I'm essencially a hobo with a netbook.
 

newdarkcloud

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Aug 2, 2010
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Assuming the dream job pays enough for one to live comfortably, then it would obviously be the better choice.
 

Viptorian

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Mar 29, 2010
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As someone who has spent the last two years being absolutely miserable because of my job, for the love of god, have fun with what you do. It's not actually "work" if you enjoy doing it.
 

The Funslinger

Corporate Splooge
Sep 12, 2010
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James Joseph Emerald said:
I imagine the public sector job would be easier to get. If you got that, then some time down the line, good work done there could get your foot in the door for private sector and some sexy cash! :D
 
Aug 25, 2009
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In the past I would have said money at whatever cost, but when you work full time it's very different. Doing something you don't like or can't at least get into is really draining and soul crushing. You have to stay motivated when you work full time and a lot of that motivation has to come from the job itself.
 

frizzlebyte

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Oct 20, 2008
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Keoul said:
I would go for the job I enjoy, or go for the high pay job till I get sick of it THEN go for the fun job, and if it doesn't exist I'll MAKE it exist by throwing all my piles of money at the problem!

I have a very simple mind :p
Actually, that seems to be how most entrepreneurs started their careers. If you don't like any job out there, make your own.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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Depends. Its standard of life vs job satisfaction. As long as you can pay your bills then do the job you enjoy. Although, im more of a fun out of work person. For me, a job is what gives you money to have fun. Work to live.....not live to work. :)But then i guess it depends on the job.
 

DugMachine

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Apr 5, 2010
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It takes strong will power to not blow your brains out working in a shitty, boring job but sometimes you have to find joy even in crap jobs to get through it. Most 'dream jobs' don't pay very well and regardless of what some people say, money is really freaking important in the long run. It's a balancing act really.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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James Joseph Emerald said:
So, here's something I've been considering a lot lately.
My Master's course is starting in about a week, and it's in the rare, extremely sought-after field of computer forensics. At some point in my career, possibly pretty soon, I'm going to have to choose whether to go into the private sector, as a civilian consultant, or the public sector, as law enforcement. As a corporate forensic consultant you can quite easily make a six-figure salary, which to me is an astonishingly large amount; however, I've always wanted to be a Special Agent in the FBI, or do intelligence/investigative work for the NSA or CIA.
Mostly because it sounds badass, which is pretty much the sole criterion upon which I base all my important life decisions =P

I'm just using myself as an example, however.
My question is more general: do you think you would prefer to have a job that you feel is challenging/fun/fulfilling/cool/important, or one that may be a bit boring but brings in lots of money to spend on the stuff you really enjoy (like, say, being able to afford a day-one purchase of any game that strikes your fancy)?


Captcha: I WANT CONTROL

Ohhh shit.
I think it depends on the kind of life you want to lead. I once heard of a lady who was a tax consultant. She worked really hard for 1 month out of the year doing the taxes of rich folk and corporate companies, and then for the rest of the year she'd travel and have fun with the money she earned. She wanted to travel, and doing taxes gave her the money to do that.

But a lot of people do find joy in something that can also earn them money, like science, art, teaching, writing, etc. Though sometimes in those fields you have to have a lot of education or be very prolific to make the big bucks.
 

Realitycrash

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Dec 12, 2010
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Money doesn't equal happiness. Sure, it makes it easier to acquire, but a small yet sufficient amount is enough. A well-paying but boring job isn't going to cut it for me.
 

Brotha Desmond

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Jan 3, 2011
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That's the problem with people these days, going for jobs that are "fun". The reason why nobody has a job is because of that mindset. There are plenty of jobs, it's just that nobody wants to do them.