Poll: Job you love, or job that pays high?

[Naeras]

Getting a job you hate for the sake of money is always a bad idea.
However getting a well-paid job you sort of enjoy over a horribly paid job you'll really enjoy is a toss-up, which is kind of the situation presented here. The other problem is that one job more or less will guarantee you getting employed, the other is kind of hard to get together. The two comments I can give to this is:

- You started asking yourself whether or not the engineering degree is something for you after "a few classes"(is that a semester, a year, whatever?). This is perfectly normal and has happened to pretty much everyone I know that's studying something difficult/useful, because you have to go through some classes that you don't really enjoy all that much. It took me a year of molecular biology where I pretty much was like "eh, is this really the field I want to work with for the rest of my life?", until my stance suddenly changed to "this is the coolest fucking thing ever and I love it". The reason was that I had to take classes that I found kind of meh, but when I got past that, it became much more enjoyable.
- If you really want to work as an artist, the most important thing is to have connections. I bolded that out because it's really important. Getting a degree in arts won't net you a job the same way an engineering degree would. Degrees and talent are factors that help, but your best shot at getting a job is to know people. So go do that. Attend stuff that might give you contacts that later might maybe need an artist, or know someone who knows someone who needs an artist, or so on.

Whatever you choose, good luck!

 

[Zhukov]

If I'm going to spend, what... about a quarter, of my time on this earth doing a particular activity, then it had damn well better be an activity that I enjoy, or at least one I don't dislike and can derive some satisfaction from.

Obviously there's limits. Love of the job doesn't pay the bills. But personally I can live on relatively small amounts of money, at least in my current single and childless state of being.

 

[HoneyVision]

Use your head. It's important to have a job you enjoy, but it's even more important to have a job at all, and one that will support you sufficiently.
That being said, if you're truly fixed on becoming an artist then you're gonna have to bust your ass to get to a decent paid position. And that means networking, self promotion and loads of practice. Art is a luxury these days so there's very little demand for it.

If you're convinced that you'll make a good and profitable artist then go for it! But plan, plan, plan! Do NOT dive in on pure instinct. You MUST use your head, because in the real world no one gives a shit how much 'passion' you have about something until you start producing good results first. And I'm sure you know that people are soooo not going to step aside for you. Especially in the arts field. Art circles are amongst the BITCHIEST cliques of people I've met and there's a lot of ass-kissing and lying involved. By no means am I trying to scare you, but it's an imperative that you PLAN before you jump in.

 

[Vegosiux]

That's a false dichotomy. You virtually never have to come to such a decision. There's a wide array of jobs out there that you can check out, even if the economy being as it is doesn't actually guarantee you get any of them.

So you need to look outside your comfort zone and go for "I don't hate it and it pays enough to get me through the month" to begin with. You're not going to land a dream job right off the bat. I'd actually argue that there's no such thing as a "dream job", even if some seem so.

Also, I'm firmly convinced everyone should be obligated to work at least a year in a job where they have to deal with a lot of people (call center, restaurant, retail...). Everyone. Our society would produce a lot less dickheads that way.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I'm all for a job that I actually enjoy.

I'm not someone who carelessly throws their money away on a daily basis and I'm very happy with the things that I own that I often don't need to upgrade/replace many of my things unless absolutely necessary. In many of my previous jobs that I enjoyed, I was able to get by no problem and have a blast at work (either the environment was great or the work was pleasant). It wasn't until I decided to take jobs on the basis of a large payday that I realized that working for money alone is horses***.

So yeah, I'm mostly focused on jobs that are catered more to my interests and skill set.

 

[el_kabong]

Either way is good. Right now, I'm stuck in a low-paying job (considering my education level) that I hate. So...I'd take either at this point.

 

[Belaam]

I'm a teacher, so obviously job I love.

I was making a lot more working for a multi-national engineering firm, correcting grammar and spelling on multi-million dollar bids. It paid a lot more, but I had zero say in what I did each day. I love teaching as I get to decide what we are reading and can change it from year to year as I get bored.

But the money sucks. I looked it up one year and discovered that a first year teacher makes around average pay for a Kmart manager. As in my state, I needed about 7 years of college (4+ for degree, 1.5 years for the credential program, and another 24 units over 2 years to turn my preliminary credential into a cleared one), that seems a little absurd.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

There's a balance to be struck for sure. I turned down a job that paid roughly $30,000 a year with the use of a company car and assistance in relocating because I'd be miserable at it. This was 3 days ago. I'm currently looking for a job which provides enough for my inexpensive lifestyle so I can concentrate on why I'm actually here.

So yeah I picked happiness over finances. Have done all my life.

I've been consequently generally poor for a good deal of my life but I've never felt like I had done completely the wrong decision.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I'm not sure there is a job that I could love for a long time, but if I was paid enough I'd enjoy my spare time more.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Never pursue money, pursue excellence and money will follow. Many people make a fine living in the art industry and you can always supplement income other ways (I own a few rental homes, pretty easy to do and using a property management company keeps the work involved in it to a minimum) or low effort part time employment where you can plan your next art projects while you work (my body is flipping these burgers while my mind paints a beautiful picture).

 

[Whispering Cynic]

I go to work to earn money, not to have fun. It may be nice to have a job you like, but liking something doesn't pay the bills - that's what money is for. So definitely the lucrative job, I can do things I love in my spare time.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Why not both? I mean have the job that pay while you still doing your art in you free time but in saying so the work hours can drain away your free time. If you really love drawing/ making artwork then you should still be able to do it without being paid for it but by all means getting paid for it is a nice thing to have.

 

[Vegosiux]

I go to work to earn money, not to have fun.

I don't go to work to have fun myself, but if I hated my job to the point where it would be a chore just to get there, I'd likely perform a lot worse than I do. Enjoying, at least remotely, what you do, will help you do better. And if you do better, you can have better hopes for getting rewarded.

 

[Callate]

I'm sorry to be the cold pragmatic one, but to be blunt, an awful lot of people don't get to make such a choice. It's more like "take a demeaning and soul-crushing job that pays the bills, or starve."

Maybe your college has unusually good job placement/contacts/industry references for art majors, and you'll be the exception who gets a great art job just as the student loan payments start hounding the door, but I wouldn't count on it. The two art majors I was most closely associated with in college are now, respectively, a web designer and a lawyer. The computer science guy who decided he wanted to work in animation has done some great stuff, but he's also unemployed last I heard.

It's entirely possible to continue working on art while you pay the bills as an engineer; it's also quite possible that if you keep producing art and getting it "out there" that it might one day lead to a career change. But it's easier to make art as a sideline while making a comfortable salary than it is to live on commissions and hope that you get enough work to pay the bills this month.

By all means keep taking art classes; take a minor, or double-major if you have the time, dedication and interest. But especially if you have significant student loan debt, job-track needs to come first. The expression "starving artist" exists for a reason.

 

[tsb247]

So I've run into a little problem with my future plans. I love drawing, anything from comics to character concept creation to animation. The problem I run into is I know too many people that have gotten art degrees and have done nothing with them and most places don't even require one. One of my friends who is an industry vet says that my style and ability to adopt new styles and changes as quickly as I do and being completely self-taught would help my future if I tried to get in to any internships or gigs.

However, I also run into the knowledge that an art degree feels rather useless (no offence to anyone with one, I know I'm likely very wrong). I originally set out to obtain an engineering degree because another passion of mine has been tinkering with and building robots and machines. However after taking a few classes, I began to feel like it was not right for me despite still wanting to go through with it because I know engineers are in high demand and get paid very well.

It brought up the question, should I abandon engineering and just try to get a job doing artwork? Or should I stick with it while getting more in debt with student loans, and try to get a job as an engineer?

Which would you do if you were in this scenario?

Sometimes a slight paradigm shift is all that is needed to find your niche. Why not incorporate both? Get your engineering degree, and use your artistic talents along the way. That is the true source of innovation: Engineering knowhow with an artist's perspective. Either way, incorporating both artistic talent and engineering will likely give you a career that you are happy with and bring in a good paycheck.

 

[Cazza]

If I could get a part time job (3 full days something like that) that is interesting and pay my bills and hobbies. I would take that. If I'm going to be spending a large amount of time there I at least want to be okay with it.

To put it another way work is work. I can suck it up if it means my off time is mine to do what I want. As long as I get a fair amount of it.

 

[Raikas]

I'd vote for the non-existent third option: find a balance.

A well-paid job that you hate is only going to make you miserable, but a low-paying job that you love just becomes frustrating and can drive you away from your passion. I would aim for a job that you like that also pays reasonably - that way you'll at least have the money and the energy to pursue your passions on the side and maybe build yourself enough of a base to find that elusive decent-paying job that you love.

I worked in film production for three years right out of university - it was a great experience, but eventually I realized that if I wanted to move forward in other areas of my life I would need the freedom that comes with careers that involve fewer hours for more money.

 

[theamazingbean]

I'm in a job that I love. And am currently looking for a replacement because it just doesn't pay enough.