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Thursday, January 24, 2019
When should you make career decisions based on money?
www.fastcompany.com: These days, many people want their careers to be more than just a way to earn a living. They want their jobs to give them a sense of purpose and meaning.
8 comments:
Lenora G
said...
This is interesting to read in relation to the career we've all chosen in the arts. I've often thought about the fact that in order to pursue this as a career, there's a certain income security that comes with it. Many (though not all) of us have grown up in a financially stable home, and that has led us to feel safe enough to pursue this career without necessarily worrying about the difficulties we might have making a living. It's interesting to see what that does to someone's psyche. Even within our own class, there are some things that definitely relate to the amount of money someone grew up in. Even when I would talk to my dad, the way he thinks about education and finances is different than the way I would, because we've been raised differently and in different households. To him, college was his ticket to a secure income, and while he tries, he doesn't understand that perhaps I am not necessarily seeking my education just so I can make money in the future. There's nothing wrong with either, or with choosing a career path for that security, because both can lead to happy and fulfilled lives, it has a lot more to do with the types of safety nets we have through our education, or our backgrounds. Some of the people we go to school with might end up doing something completely different, and leaving art entirely, but that doesn't mean that they'll be any less happy than the rest of us, it just means that they chose a different path.
This article is written in a way where I think it is sitting on the fence when it comes to the actual opinion it is trying to state because going into the article it comes off as go for the money, but in actuality people only went for the money so they could ultimately fulfill their passions in ways that they might not have initially expected. Here’s the thing every person and their needs are different, what fulfills them is different and what their approach to get there is an individual path that if dictated by others will probably leave them feeling unfulfilled. I can appreciate the do what you have to in order to be capable to sustain yourself but that doesn’t require abandoning your passion either and I think that was evident in the article from people’s personal experiences. I think the most useful surmising of advice I could get from this article would to be open to opportunities you may not have planned on pursuing and see if you can fulfill yourself and your passion within those opportunities in potentially unexpected ways.
I thought this article was very interesting as it addressed a topic that I, and I think many of my classmates think about often. In my opinion, the ideal situation would be being passionate about a profession that also pays well. I was surprised to read that, for a lot of people, pursuing wealth is shameful and looked down on in their communities. I would hope that there is a push towards respecting everyone’s career choices, no matter what their motivation is. I don’t think there is anything shameful or wrong about choosing a career based on money and I also think that it is a great luxury and privilege to be able to choose any career, no matter what the salary will be. The article doesn’t mention this aspect of it but I think it is important to consider it, that there are only some people that can go into any career that they would like, even if it is one with very little pay.
I have had a whole bunch of conversations surrounding this topic with assorted family members who have strong opinions on what I am studying to do for a living. My parents have always told me that they are “comfortable” with me pursuing a career related to the arts because I am in the management sides of the arts, so they see a more solid safety net below. I have always gravitated careers and paths that fulfill me, instead of ones that have a large dollar amount attached to the title. I am not naïve, in that I am aware that earning enough money to be able to thrive in our society, but I want to be clear on the fact that I don’t believe we should compromise what fulfills us purely for money. Pursuing a career so you can build savings to go back to what you love is not a necessarily backwards movement. It is providing you with the freedom to enjoy what you do with a little bit less stress attached.
While this article is not what I expected, it still offered some good insight. The article gives a few stories about people and their career choices clearly laying out that money needs to be a big consideration for happiness. The moral of each story seems to be that not making enough money to live comfortably isn’t worth doing your dream job. It also leaves an underlying message that there is something gout there that is similar to what you want to do but does make money. That is the golden mean, a well-paying job doing essentially what you wanted to do. There is one thing I wished the article would have done. It set itself up as a guide or advice related article to careers and money. What it did was tell a few peoples stories. While the stories were still helpful it didn’t give me what I was clicking on the article for – a point in time in your life when that needs to happen. What I can conclude for myself is that it is always a good time to make the decision to go after money rather than The Job. But I can’t say that is the conclusion the article actually makes as it almost seems conclusion less for the reader while it concludes enough for the point they are making.
As theater artists, we get told all the damn time that we will never make money in this industry. As Mira stated, the ideal situation would to have a career you are passionate about and will also make money in. I think the article provides some interesting viewpoints on money and careers. Another point that I wanna touch on that Mira also mentioned (Go Mira!), but it is huge a privilege and a luxury to be able to choose a comfortable career. The point of opening yourself up to different options when it comes to choosing a career is great advice that the article touches on. I feel this is important especially being at CMU School of Drama, where we have a plethora of options that you can explore across disciplines. Overall, this article provides a few great points of advice but definitely is based on opinion and doesn’t include everything. So I would definitely take this with a grain of salt.
This article is definitely relevant to us already- by choosing CMU and a BFA degree, we’ve committed ourselves to the significant financial burden of an expensive college and committed ourselves somewhat to a career in the arts. Being able to make this choice at all is definitely a sign that most if not all of us grew up in families that were comfortable monetarily and supportive of our choices, and we made this choice to accept the financial risks without really understanding them. I often have some version of a conversation where I mention I’m in drama school, they look nervous, I say doing tech not acting, and they look relieved and say “oh good, so you’re not going to starve”. As many people have brought up, we’re not doing this for the money, we’re doing it because it’s a passion- and we need to recognize that we are only able to say that because of our more economically stable background.
I really appreciated how this article brought up the fact that there is a stigma around choosing a job because of the money that it offers. While I do believe that experience is one of the most important things in life, you can not pay rent with experience. As I am applying for internships over the summer, I have learned to not focus as much on the financial compensation for the job and focus more on the type of job and who I would be working for. I have this attitude now because I know that I am at the very beginning of my career and the jobs I take now will have an impact on my future when I have to make the tough decision to take a job for money or experience. Working in an artistic field makes it hard to be financially focused in your career because, for many of us, money is not the reason that we want to be in the industry so trying to do what we love while paying the bills can be a complicated task.
8 comments:
This is interesting to read in relation to the career we've all chosen in the arts. I've often thought about the fact that in order to pursue this as a career, there's a certain income security that comes with it. Many (though not all) of us have grown up in a financially stable home, and that has led us to feel safe enough to pursue this career without necessarily worrying about the difficulties we might have making a living. It's interesting to see what that does to someone's psyche. Even within our own class, there are some things that definitely relate to the amount of money someone grew up in. Even when I would talk to my dad, the way he thinks about education and finances is different than the way I would, because we've been raised differently and in different households. To him, college was his ticket to a secure income, and while he tries, he doesn't understand that perhaps I am not necessarily seeking my education just so I can make money in the future. There's nothing wrong with either, or with choosing a career path for that security, because both can lead to happy and fulfilled lives, it has a lot more to do with the types of safety nets we have through our education, or our backgrounds. Some of the people we go to school with might end up doing something completely different, and leaving art entirely, but that doesn't mean that they'll be any less happy than the rest of us, it just means that they chose a different path.
This article is written in a way where I think it is sitting on the fence when it comes to the actual opinion it is trying to state because going into the article it comes off as go for the money, but in actuality people only went for the money so they could ultimately fulfill their passions in ways that they might not have initially expected. Here’s the thing every person and their needs are different, what fulfills them is different and what their approach to get there is an individual path that if dictated by others will probably leave them feeling unfulfilled. I can appreciate the do what you have to in order to be capable to sustain yourself but that doesn’t require abandoning your passion either and I think that was evident in the article from people’s personal experiences. I think the most useful surmising of advice I could get from this article would to be open to opportunities you may not have planned on pursuing and see if you can fulfill yourself and your passion within those opportunities in potentially unexpected ways.
I thought this article was very interesting as it addressed a topic that I, and I think many of my classmates think about often. In my opinion, the ideal situation would be being passionate about a profession that also pays well. I was surprised to read that, for a lot of people, pursuing wealth is shameful and looked down on in their communities. I would hope that there is a push towards respecting everyone’s career choices, no matter what their motivation is. I don’t think there is anything shameful or wrong about choosing a career based on money and I also think that it is a great luxury and privilege to be able to choose any career, no matter what the salary will be. The article doesn’t mention this aspect of it but I think it is important to consider it, that there are only some people that can go into any career that they would like, even if it is one with very little pay.
I have had a whole bunch of conversations surrounding this topic with assorted family members who have strong opinions on what I am studying to do for a living. My parents have always told me that they are “comfortable” with me pursuing a career related to the arts because I am in the management sides of the arts, so they see a more solid safety net below. I have always gravitated careers and paths that fulfill me, instead of ones that have a large dollar amount attached to the title. I am not naïve, in that I am aware that earning enough money to be able to thrive in our society, but I want to be clear on the fact that I don’t believe we should compromise what fulfills us purely for money. Pursuing a career so you can build savings to go back to what you love is not a necessarily backwards movement. It is providing you with the freedom to enjoy what you do with a little bit less stress attached.
While this article is not what I expected, it still offered some good insight. The article gives a few stories about people and their career choices clearly laying out that money needs to be a big consideration for happiness. The moral of each story seems to be that not making enough money to live comfortably isn’t worth doing your dream job. It also leaves an underlying message that there is something gout there that is similar to what you want to do but does make money. That is the golden mean, a well-paying job doing essentially what you wanted to do. There is one thing I wished the article would have done. It set itself up as a guide or advice related article to careers and money. What it did was tell a few peoples stories. While the stories were still helpful it didn’t give me what I was clicking on the article for – a point in time in your life when that needs to happen. What I can conclude for myself is that it is always a good time to make the decision to go after money rather than The Job. But I can’t say that is the conclusion the article actually makes as it almost seems conclusion less for the reader while it concludes enough for the point they are making.
As theater artists, we get told all the damn time that we will never make money in this industry. As Mira stated, the ideal situation would to have a career you are passionate about and will also make money in. I think the article provides some interesting viewpoints on money and careers. Another point that I wanna touch on that Mira also mentioned (Go Mira!), but it is huge a privilege and a luxury to be able to choose a comfortable career. The point of opening yourself up to different options when it comes to choosing a career is great advice that the article touches on. I feel this is important especially being at CMU School of Drama, where we have a plethora of options that you can explore across disciplines. Overall, this article provides a few great points of advice but definitely is based on opinion and doesn’t include everything. So I would definitely take this with a grain of salt.
This article is definitely relevant to us already- by choosing CMU and a BFA degree, we’ve committed ourselves to the significant financial burden of an expensive college and committed ourselves somewhat to a career in the arts. Being able to make this choice at all is definitely a sign that most if not all of us grew up in families that were comfortable monetarily and supportive of our choices, and we made this choice to accept the financial risks without really understanding them. I often have some version of a conversation where I mention I’m in drama school, they look nervous, I say doing tech not acting, and they look relieved and say “oh good, so you’re not going to starve”. As many people have brought up, we’re not doing this for the money, we’re doing it because it’s a passion- and we need to recognize that we are only able to say that because of our more economically stable background.
I really appreciated how this article brought up the fact that there is a stigma around choosing a job because of the money that it offers. While I do believe that experience is one of the most important things in life, you can not pay rent with experience. As I am applying for internships over the summer, I have learned to not focus as much on the financial compensation for the job and focus more on the type of job and who I would be working for. I have this attitude now because I know that I am at the very beginning of my career and the jobs I take now will have an impact on my future when I have to make the tough decision to take a job for money or experience. Working in an artistic field makes it hard to be financially focused in your career because, for many of us, money is not the reason that we want to be in the industry so trying to do what we love while paying the bills can be a complicated task.
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