I see people asking a lot, “Would you rather spend your life doing something you hate just for the money, or spend your life doing something you love?” And here’s the thing: anything done meaningfully well, well enough that you can earn a living from doing it, is going to require you to work past the point that you still enjoy doing it. A musician plays guitar, but he may not love 4 hours a night of practicing with his band… he may love performing in front of a crowd, but he may not enjoy doing the same set every night for 6 months straight. At some point, whatever you do for money becomes a chore.
For me… I’ve been experiencing a massive slump in energy and motivation because I’ve been waiting for this to start being fun, and it hasn’t happened. It feels just like work. Work that I haven’t been receiving checks for. So, I’d like to dispel this rumor… this lie… that you can enjoy that 8 hour block of your day we call your “job” because that is simply nonsense. If you have any chance of not hating your job, it comes from getting something out of it. Money.
With money, you buy the things you actually enjoy. Therefore, you can start to think of your job as a way of getting the things that can bring happiness. If your job isn’t doing that, it’s not that you need a more fun job… it’s that you need a better job. As in, a job that gets you more money. I am dissatisfied where I’m at professionally because I’m not making enough to satisfy my wants and needs, and I’m being constantly disrespected. If I was making double the money, it would be worth it suddenly to put up with things how they are.
Likewise, if you are someone who thinks that a job developing games is going to be an un-job, where you get paid to have fun, you’re on the wrong track. For a couple of years, you won’t know the difference. But once you start realizing that everything I’m saying is true, you’re going to regret not making the money. Because you’ll no longer be having the fun… so it will begin to make no difference what job you’re doing, only what it gets for you.
I would advise anyone to strongly consider what I’m saying, and to calculate how much the lifestyle you want will cost and make decisions based on that. Because you can always quit your high paying salaried job and go swim with dolphins in Aruba if your heart desires, but you can’t ever switch up after 10 years of being a starving artist whose resume includes “being a hipster” and “going Kerouac on everyone’s ass”.
If you disagree with me, you probably are a mac user.
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