No, but my job earns me enough money to do the things I love to do.
Which isn’t to say I hate my job. I enjoy it, and I take a lot of satisfaction from doing the job well. But it’s not my ‘passion’.
And frankly, if we all only did the things we loved doing, who would come and collect our rubbish every week?
Yep, I’m one of those. At least when the job (as the current one) involves nice people and reasonable expectations.
I’m an engineer by mindset as well as by degree; one of the proudest moments of my life was that day when a professor accused me of “thinking like an engineer”. “Well, I am one, and glad it shows. Now, may I ask again what have we learned from this research, other than how to use double precision? Double precision isn’t news.” I’m always thinking of “why is this like it is” and “how can we make it better”. I get paid to do that with business processes and to explain the new processes to people. I get paid to tell people how to do their jobs! It is just so cool when they say “young lady, are you going to tell me how to do my own job?” “thanks for the compliment and yes, that’s exactly what I’m being paid to do!”
It’s not “getting paid for my hobby”, but it’s “getting paid to do what comes naturally” and I enjoy it.
I’m retired now, but thru my 11 years on active duty in the Navy and the subsequent 26 years working as an engineer for the Navy, I mostly enjoyed what I did and I was paid well. I won’t say that every moment on the job was sheer joy, but there were very few “I-don’t-wanna-go-to-work” days and many, many more “That’s-really-cool” days, and a few “Eureka!!” days. I was fortunate to pick the Navy on a whim when I was 19, and it turned out to be the start of a long and very rewarding career.
I guess I do make money doing what I love, but the job came first. I’ve been with the same organization in various capacities for 27 years and there’s not much I can say is wrong with it. It engages me creatively and intellectually, is never boring, and brings substantial emotional and personal reward. I’m not paid “handsomely” since it’s a nonprofit, but I am paid.
So that’s as close as I come. I don’t have a passionate hobby or anything, and envy those who can indeed get rich doing whatever it is brings them joy. I have always said in my next life I want to be Jimmy Buffett.
Light at the end of the tunnel 
Thanks Snowboarder Bo! Going by this, I’ll have another 5 years of poverty. I think I can manage it, if it means I get to do this work.
Yeah, if I ever find a job that consists entirely of lying in bed in the morning smelling the fresh croissants in the oven, I’m outta the theatre 
ETA: beside the theatre, I have always had jobs I was really, really passionate about. I could spend my life doing any of those very happily. Except two: one was in The Hateful Office of Despair and the other was an office that had a “no singing while operating the photocopier”-rule. Both were just temp jobs doing stuff I didn’t care about anyway.
Rules like that are just wrong. I mean, who can resist a quick “The hiiiillllllls are alivvvveeeeee … with the smell of tonerrrrrrrr”?
I have a narrow set of skills (computer programming and related work) which give me both enjoyment and good pay. The alternative, given certain weaknesses, wouldn’t have been just an unhappy career but probably institutionalization one way or another.
My work with computers was well-paid enough to let me retire early. I still spend time programming for fun.
I make a little money writing science fiction, and I also love troubleshooting computers.
I’ve had hobby-jobs before and all that happened is that it made me sick of my hobby. Plus I was broke as shit all the time and that got old in a hurry. A winter with the thermostat set at 52 will make you reconsider your options.
I’m more of a work-to-live person - it’s not important to me that I LOVE my work, as long as I like it fine, it pays ok, and I don’t find it difficult. My job suits my personality and interests very well. It pays reasonably well and I never have to stay past 5. I get lots of vacation and excellent benefits. I can honestly say I really don’t mind being a cog in a giant machine. In fact, I prefer it.
The one thing I will never do is work for myself. My parents have their own business and I’d do almost anything rather than experience that hell.
I love sitting around drinking beer. No pay in it, though.
This.
As a news shooter I would have to say yes I love my job only because it forces me naked into the world without any protection - something in retrospect I would never willingly do if my natural inclinations had anything to say about it. I have to go meet people I would not normally have any interest in meeting. I have to go to places I never would have a need to go to in a normal life. I get to witness events most people would never see first hand. I am challenged to accomplish projects under absolute deadlines every day.
I hate my job many days. I love it more. It’s a job of extremes and you have to be able to deal with excess gracefully.
My only real concern is I don’t know how much longer the job will exist - the possibility that the industry will die is a real one.
I’m a combat cameraman for the Navy. It’s my dream job. There’s only about 80 of us in the whole Navy, so we’re a small “high speed, low drag” unit. We play with cool toys, get all sorts of incredible training, and get paid to see things and places that very few others ever get to see.
There is a mental hurdle when documenting violence and the effects of violence, but someone has to do it, and I feel it’s important. Then there is the thrill of seeing my footage pop up in interesting places.
When I belly danced professionally I was thrilled to be paid for something I’d have gladly done for free. It wasn’t enough to pay the bills though and not something I’d call a career. There’s not a big market for senior exotic dancers. Computer programming paid the bills and I did enjoy it, it was the corporate world that I hated. Now I do customer service work from home, not always my favorite work but working from home is great and as long as I do my job and there’s no technical problems or upgrades the only time I hear management is my weekly pay statement.
Yes. I’m a folklorist, and I make money by teaching, writing, and consulting on cultural projects. There are aspects of the job I dislike, and it doesn’t pay very well, but overall I love what I do and I can’t imagine living any other way.
Yep I love programming and I have been paid to do that since I graduated. I was doing it for fun before I was paid so this has to count.
Mind you my career is slowing segueing into management shudder which means less coding, for shame.
I make a very good living as a technical and proposal writer/editor in the defense contractor world, and I love editing. So much so that I went and got a master’s degree in it, for no good reason (I really enjoy writing, too, but not as much as I enjoy editing). I often think that when I retire*, I might try to find a position as a nonprofit’s newsletter editor or something.
The One Thing I Love Most In The World is singing (jazz, specifically), and I also get paid to do that every now and then.
I’m a lucky, lucky woman. 
*I’ll turn 65 in 2036, and by then I fully expect the retirement age to have raised to at least 70. I also expect to never be able to completely stop working: I may “retire,” but I think that I’ll work as long as I’m able to (though it may only be part-time and/or not for much money).
Wow! Incredible story. Sorry to hear about your wife. I love the way you bounced back from those lows though and screw the corporate machine! It’s stories like these that make me loath Corporate America. No loyalty to its employees. Congrats on beating the system!
Thanks for sharing all your stories thus far guys!
It looks like it’s all over the place but from what I’ve read so far, it looks like it’s worth it to go for it. I envy a lot of you who have found it.
Gagundather’s story makes me shudder at the thought of working for Corporate America for years on end.
Keep these stories coming! They’re very encouraging.
Yes. I work for a public library and I love my job. I work in various departments and I am always looking for other cross-training opportunities and a challenge. I also like most of my coworkers, so coming to work is pleasant and something I actually look forward to most days. I feel lucky.