Great career advice

[ProxyAmenRa]

I was surfing the nets and I came across a youtube video forwarding career advice. I watched it and thoroughly agreed. The main argument forwarded was to not follow you passions but follow opportunities, be entrepreneurial. I am reasonably successful person; I have a PhD in engineering, a great job and plenty of prospects ahead of me. I resonated with the advice given. I have never followed my passions, I accepted opportunities when presented that require my skillset. If I had followed my passions, I would not have the list of wins and successes that I do today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o

 

[Turnevies]

The truth is very seldom black or white, always in the middle. In the end, I consider happiness and fullfilment as a better metric for success than money or status, there is no use in being rich and cynical. If I would only look at career prospects, I would have studied engineering as well presumably. I chose physics instead, because fundamental science is 'my passion'. I know I'm not smart enough to become a professor, let alone win a nobel prize. But just the interest in the subject is enough to choose it, while there are still quite good career possibilities available, although they are not as readily available as for an engineer.

 

[Architect]

It's also good advice because usually your passion isn't what you should be doing (due to it often being an inferior desire). Follow your interests, not your passions. Following your opportunities comes naturally; you don't have any choice in that.

 

[Tannhauser]

True stuff. For me it's just trial and error, and calling it "passion" after the fact.

 

[Analyzer]

What are your passions?

 

[TBerg]

I test well in language, and I have written some pretty decent papers. It is not a very marketable skill unless you are able to avoid the psychodrama of real life that prevents you from thinking about anything and just seethe with rage. I am also just fucking weird, so my perspective on the page must alienate some people, or just bore them.

Robert Greene said that you have to follow your strengths, or things will frustrate you and make you lose momentum. Passion adds to the momentum, in this equation.

 

[Inquisitor]

I was surfing the nets and I came across a youtube video forwarding career advice. I watched it and thoroughly agreed. The main argument forwarded was to not follow you passions but follow opportunities, be entrepreneurial. I am reasonably successful person; I have a PhD in engineering, a great job and plenty of prospects ahead of me. I resonated with the advice given. I have never followed my passions, I accepted opportunities when presented that require my skillset. If I had followed my passions, I would not have the list of wins and successes that I do today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o

There are significant problems with this video. Why? First of all, he repeats the fallacy that there is a so-called "skills gap." This idea has been debunked.

http://www.labornotes.org/2014/01/skills-gap-convenient-myth

It's far from a good idea to learn a trade in my opinion. First of all, the wages are sh*t for much of them. Second, the demand is there in certain fields, but it's weak and again...the wages. Third, why shell out money for an associate's degree on something that only pays $15-20/hr? If there really were a skills gap, employers would raise wages, and they haven't; they just want more skilled workers willing to do the job for a pittance.

I can speculate as to why it is politically popular to repeat this fallacy: To help make these jobs more popular and hence drive down wages even further.

Anyway, I don't want to derail your thread. I think Mike Rowe is being a bit hypocritical (and some of the comments raised this on YouTube) since he's not actually doing one of these jobs. Sure it's great to own a business if you're successful, and actually, the odds of getting rich in a dull normal business are higher than in many other fields. Certainly, it's more likely anyone can attain middle-class success doing this as opposed to working in the arts, environmentalism, non-profit work, etc. But that doesn't automatically mean you should do it. I think a far safer strategy is to choose occupations that are well-represented by your type and that are in high demand (ie employers are actually willing to pay you well for your services.)

Then the rest of the advice in that video seems generally accurate to me. Passion (or at least enjoyment) comes after you get good at what you do.

It's also good advice because usually your passion isn't what you should be doing (due to it often being an inferior desire). Follow your interests, not your passions. Following your opportunities comes naturally; you don't have any choice in that.

It's so tricky to disambiguate interest from passion though. I can't say I'm "passionate" about anything. I just get inspired about something, and once my curiosity has been satisfied and the exploration is over, I just drop it like a used rag.

 

[Pyropyro]

I agree with focusing on opportunity rather passion or heading to the "right direction". Also I must add attitude to the success mix. Sometimes a highly talented and skilled worker is simply outshined by their more productive, patient, teachable etc. co-workers.

As for Inquisitor's findings, there's another dirty truth: companies can hire cheap, docile AND skilled immigrants (that's basically my country's national export) or just give up and outsource jobs to China/India etc.. Honestly, you guys got to find another competitive advantage aside from having a decent skill set.

 

[Architect]

It's so tricky to disambiguate interest from passion though. I can't say I'm "passionate" about anything. I just get inspired about something, and once my curiosity has been satisfied and the exploration is over, I just drop it like a used rag.

Yeah exactly. Do that enough times and you/ll become like me with little left to drop, so you stick to just a couple things by elimination.

 

[WALKYRIA]

One day an old priest told me that a good job is something:
1° I'm naturally talented for/ skilled for.
2° I love
3° Earns some money

Everyone wants point 3, but not everyone loves the same or has the same skills. The problem in our societies is that people who go for point 3 are valued; people who go for 1 or 2 not so much... The secret is to find something you love and are skilled for but that no one else wants to do or knows about(i demand, thus $)... Simple. I love mental health; few people love mental health(most people actually hate it with a passion)... Finally it's about doing something which is demanded and that you also happened to like or to be interested.
Now that is the first thing and actually easiest.

The second thing and that is the hardest is to become stellar; thus standing out from the rest of the competition so that you can become the ultimate specialist and do what u really like... But hey that is secodary I guess !!

 

[Crux_Cheetah]

That makes sense. People try too hard for what they think is cool. But there are plenty of other, easier ways to be happy that people miss out on. It's sort of like going to school vs homeschooling, maybe..
I don't know but I think that's sensible advice.
There are plenty of ways to do things and maybe it's a better idea to go look at all the other jobs and choose not only based on your passion/desire, but also based on which jobs offer more opportunity.
Maybe the key to success is looking for different options and choosing the one that is best for your situation rather than dreaming up what you want and working relentlessly towards something that most likely wouldn't happen..