Kinda. I’m an engineer, so I get so spend all day solving problems, which is very satisfying. And I’m a Quality Engineer in the Medical Device industry, which means I get to indulge my idealism: the products I support improve or save people’s lives, and my primary driver is ALWAYS the health and well-being of the patient, with the happiness of the FDA coming in second. I’m experienced enough that my NO is almost always final, and I love having that kind of power.
But. It still involves working in corporate America, with less vacation than I’d like. I’m compensating by saving up for early retirement (hoping for 45), at which point I’ll move on to the next phase. Possibly gardening and selling products at the farmers’ markets in the area.
It’s good enough that I’m OK getting up to go to work in the morning, and that contentment is enough for me.
I am one of those mythical people that actually really likes what I do and I get paid pretty decently methinks. Not to make it sound like heaven because even though I like it I have to do it every work day day after day after week after week after year after year which makes you want to take a break now and then…but I DO like it. In fact, every job I actually liked doing. I loved teaching…but the pay sucked. I left previous jobs to make more money though the work was similar.
I couldn’t imagine the suckitude of not liking what you are doing. That would be hellish.
I didn’t really plan it out at the start…I just got lucky methinks.
I am retired, and my superannuation now pays me to sit around and do nothing. So I can drink beer and write smug posts about how I get paid to do what I love doing (not really the same as making money from it).
Since the age of 14, all I’ve wanted to be is a cameraman/ photographer. Aside from a numbing and draining 5 year stint with a company, I’ve done it for pay since I was 17.
So far, a good 37 year run.
Every day is a good day at work. Always has been. Always will be. I surely know how lucky I am.
I agree with the comments about how converting a hobby into a job can suck the fun out of it. I spent about a year trying to make my guitar music, which had been a fairly serious hobby for 7 years or so, into a career. I practiced like crazy, wrote a shitton of music, released an album on iTunes, monetized my YouTube account, attended about a hundred bajillion open mic nights, jammed with other musicians, and eventually got one “real” gig. I learned three things from the experience: the first was that the extra effort did not result in extra satisfaction; playing in my room without any pressure was the most satisfying by far. The second was that the vast majority of listeners simply don’t enjoy or don’t understand what I do, and the third was that I was okay with it. Developing my technique and my own musical world is reward enough for the efforts.
Currently, however, one of my various job responsibilities is to look at things that are shit (in written form, to be specific), figure out why they’re shit, and suggest ways to make them not shit. It’s a skill that I’ve honed for years by editing Wikipedia, and I’ve always loved it. I absolutely love digging up little problems and trying to articulate why they’re problems in a way that other people will understand. It’s fun to me, and I honestly never thought I would be paid to do it, and yet here I am. Some parts of the job are rat racey, so it’s not all golden sunshine, but it could be much worse.
Also, for the past few weeks, I’ve been spending roughly 80% of my spare time working on developing a card game. It’s been so much fun and such a great learning experience that I wouldn’t be upset if it didn’t end up generating any moolah, but there is the potential that it will, which is exciting. If that does happen, then yes: I will have made money doing what I love to do.
I have my own, weird niche where I shoot a show with five cameras and two operators, and carry everything I need, all the cameras, tripods, cables, mixer, monitor, power distribution - everything - fits in one backpack. Shoot it all, then edit it in HD and deliver finished DVDs in a week. My joke is that I’ve managed to turn ADHD into a business model, where I pay attention to all the cameras at once, aim three of them, reacting to the music and the action on stage.
I know I could make a bunch of money shooting weddings, but I loathe shooting weddings. If all they wanted was the ceremony, I could do a brilliant job. It’s all the crap at the reception and the stuff other than the ceremony that I have no desire to have anything to do with. Especially the inevitable drunken asshole who thinks he is some sort of talk show host. With a concert, I am at the back of the room, and my clients are at the other end of the room, and nobody interferes with my work. When it is going well, and I dig the music, it is as good as it gets.
So I find it enjoyable that every shooter in this thread loves their work.
Thanks–this thread has motivated me to get off my butt and see if I can get paid for my hobby. It’s art-related, so there’s hope (it’s not like I have to figure out out how to become an N-scale model slot-car track architect/consultant*).
anybody need one? Anybody? I have a TED talk all put together…
I love designing things and making them.
My job gives me CAD software to create solid model and prints,a room filled with mills, lathes, grinders, welders, presses, workbenches, etc so I can machine and assemble anything I want for myself after hours.
During the day I have to make what they want, but that just makes me better at making what I want.
I spent my first adult 20 years doing what I loved and making money until it evolved and grew into something I know longer loved. Being recently retired and getting antsy to get back into something, I now have the luxury of not really needing to make money but I can't afford to loose any either. I have done some TV work for discovery channel and co-authored a book revolving around my hobbies which I enjoy doing but am more interested now in creating a theme park camp grounds/r/v park/ day use park based on primitive skills, art and theatre.
Working with an Indian reservation as we speak for possible partnership.
Great decision! Stress kills you so you’d be paying medical bills. You’re probably better off financially in the big picture with your teaching job and riding to school. It’s stories like this that make me realize money isn’t everything.
