Find a job you’d be happy doing, so you can pay for the things you really want to be doing. - Teshness is a wise fellow.

Find a job doing what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

It’s my experience that this is not only shallow and semantic, but the philosophy is actively bad for long term health.

There are a few aspects to this:

  • Turning a love or hobby into a job is effectively ceding control of that interest to those who write the checks. Whether you’re working for The Man as a cog in a machine, or The Herd as an entrepreneurial wizard, you’re still tying your love to money. That always changes things. And, as the EASpouse storm made more aware, and this story of Free Radical underlines (hattip to Anjin), passion is easily exploited by unsavory management, canny to optimize assets and maximize revenue.

 

    <...>

    Find a job you’d be happy doing, so you can pay for the things you really want to be doing.

     

    via tishtoshtesh.wordpress.com

    Sorta dovetails with how, when I conducting interviews (when I've been in the position to) - passion is all very well, but what I want is *professionalism*. What I want (in terms of interviewees) is more along the lines of passion for doing a good job, rather than passion for the field itself.

    Upvote Upvoted 0
    3 responses
    *chuckle* Thanks!

    Yes, employers want people who can do the job well and are happy to do so, and employees want to like their jobs... but I've never thought it wise to conflate one's passions and hobbies with one's career. That way lies trouble on several fronts.

    Thinking also from the employer's view, might it not also be a problem if someone is passionate about the job and can't see what they do objectively? Seems to me that might make it *really* hard to take criticism and correction sometimes.

    I think "professionalism" is indeed the ideal. :)

    — Tesh
    Well, of course passion is nice too. XD I'd never say passion is a disqualifier. But professionalism is the sell, passion is the topping. At least for a nugget!

    As for those who are passionate about the job and can't see what they do objectively, I've found there's roughly 2 types of folks. Those who can't see objectively from lack of experience, and those whose experience outstrips your own, so that while where they're going may seem strange... they do actually see objectively, and know where they're going.

    I think the hard thing for an interviewer is to determine which is which.

    — Glorious McNugget
    *Or I should say, those who *appear* not to be able to see what they do objectively. ;)
    — Glorious McNugget
    Add Website URL »