I have talked here before about the crazy crap that is going down where I work. I think today may be the day that I get fired actually, but I am fine with that because I am really unhappy in my job. I get paid tons of money but I hate going to work every day.
I have just set up an interview for a position that I have no doubt I’d like a lot better than my current job but the pay cut would be pretty drastic, about 10k less per year to be exact. If I took the job, though, I could cut almost 2 hours a day out of my commute and 2k a year off of my transportation costs. I could always pick up a second job or get a roommate since I have a spare room but I like living on my own and I am nervous at the prospect of having a stranger live in my home.
So now that I am in a position where I am sort of choosing between money and fulfillment at work I am a bit torn. If you had the option which would you choose?
I chose a job I love. I was a QC Microbiologist for Big Evil Drug Corp TM. 8 years ago, I took a 6K/yr pay cut (and lost stock options) to come to an academic setting. Worth every penny.
Fulfillment, every time. Like you said, there are always options when it comes to money; spending most of your waking hours at a job you are forcing yourself to do is soul-sucking. Of course, I am basing my opinion on what I hope to be true; I have never had a job I loved. I assume if I ever do, it will be a good thing. People say it is.
Two hours a day cut off your commute plus 2k reduced transportation costs? What is your time worth? It looks like you’re almost at 10k already.
No one-size-fits-all answer to this one, but I would say “tons of money but I hate going to work every day” is a bad situation. I also think people who are fulfilled as artists but don’t know where next month’s rent is going to come from is also a bad situation but some of them don’t seem to mind.
I am somewhere in the middle. I love my work, it’s the job I can’t stand I am a senior manager in an IT company; I love dealing with technology and its challenges, and I like the people I work with, but the last line of production code I wrote was in 1988 and now as a manager most of my time is spent dealing with problems that shouldn’t have happened in the first place, placating tense customers, replacing lost staff, writing proposals to beg for new work, and other stuff that is no fun. But every job has stuff that is no fun so I figure I’m better off being stressed in a well-paying job instead of being stressed as a starving jazz guitar player.
Anecdote: Amazing guitar player Steve Morse left the music industry to become a professional pilot because he didn’t like all the bullshit in the music industry. Then he found out there was just as much bullshit in the airline industry. He returned to music and then joined Deep Purple, among other projects.
Fulfillment, for me: I love my job (teacher) and can’t imagine doing something I hated everyday. It’s literally unthinkable. On the other hand, I can’t be happy at anything if I am below a certain income level because the insecurity would taint everything: I am just grateful that the job I love lets me live a lower/middle middle class life style. I don’t know what I’d do if the only jobs I loved paid peanuts.
As far as your situation goes, 10k is meaningless without context. Going from 100k to 90K would be nothing. Going from 20K to 10K a year might put you in a place where your whole life becomes worrying about bills. If the new job doesn’t pay a living wage, is it one that could lead to a job you both love and could live on? Does the job you are in now have any hope of developing into something you like?
Money. I’m not at my job to feel ‘fulfilled’ or be recognized or any of the other feel good crap they say people want these days. Don’t give me a pat on the back, give me a bonus.
Truly loving your job gets my vote. I’m making VERY GOOD money where I’m at right now, but I can’t stand it and may even be semi-consciously trying to get let go. I know I’m slacking far more than I should be, or have in the past. The sad thing is, I’m doing work which is so dull and beneath my skill level that I’m exceeding all my goals. I sleep late, wander into the office around noon, leave around five or six. Got word last week that another department tried to steal me away from the manager I’m working for right now because they want me for their team.
What would your pay cut be as a percentage? If 10K is 10% of your pay it makes less difference than if 10K is 35% of your pay. Your tradeoffs may be unaffordable. If you’re not sure the grass really is greener on the other side, you may want to just keep plugging at your current job and save money to ease the transition to something better at another time.
Manda Jo, my pay would go from about 45k to 35k a year if I took this job, which keeps me earning enough to live for sure but it will really put a damper on my extra curriculars, for sure! I think of 45k as a ton of money simply because it keeps all of my bills paid and leaves enough for me to live a life I am comfortable with outside of work. That will change somewhat, though like I said I can find a roommate or take up a second job while I work my way up the ladder. I also have 4 months worth of living expenses in an emergency account so I wouldn’t be destitute or anything while I got settled into my new position so there is that to consider.
The reason I think this new job would be so great is that it is in a field I am very interested in and considering going back to school to get a graduate degree in this field. In fact, this place is on my “places I could use my masters/doctorate” list for when I finally get back in school and start earning a higher degree. Getting my foot in the door there would be an incredibly good move on my part, not to mention the job they are interviewing me for is customer service related which is what I have most of my experience in and something I am really good at so I have no doubt I would be a star performer in that department while I finish my education.
10 hours a week of not sitting in your car(train full of smelly strangers)? Thats a no brainer, go for it! I moved and now instead of driving for 2 hours a day I can walk to work and I can’t tell you how awesome it is. I am eating better, I am always wide awake and attentive, when I get back home I still have energy to work on my open source project, it rocks. I didn’t have to take a pay cut, but my rent went from $410 to $750 a month which is $4080 a year more. I have yet to regret anything about this decision.
So it’s a stepping stone to more money later? If that’s the case then you are getting both fulfillment and money…delayed money for sure, but money none the less.
I won’t work in a job I truly hate. I’ve taken a pay cut to get out of a job where the thought of going into work in the morning became painful, and I would do it again if needed. Dreading the start of each day is no way to live, no matter what the gain.
On the other hand, realistically speaking, a job is something that I’m paid to do because I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. There are people who end up getting paid to do things they enjoy, or even things they would have done anyway, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. Shopping around for a job I really, truly loved would be highly unlikely to result in anything but a chain of disappointment and headaches.
When searching for a job, then, the first thing I do is strike from the list anything that I’d rather put a bullet in my head than do again (sales, customer service, restaurant management, etc.) regardless of salary, as well as companies whose practices I consider evil. Everything that’s left is filed into “jobs I don’t hate”, and I narrow them down by salary, benefits, and so on.
It’s not impossible that I could find a job that truly makes me happy, but if it happens, it’s going to be a matter of luck anyway. There’s no sense actively looking for it; you can’t know the realities of any job unless and until you actually have it.
Sometimes, if you’re doing what you love, the money will follow. It’s rare, if ever, though, that someone getting paid well to do a job they hate grow to love the job.
Loving your job. I had a job I hated for 12 years, but made a lot of money at, and I’d never do that again. I’ve learned to live on less and I’m much happier.
Well there’s another factor that you haven’t named specifically which is career potential. Sometimes the quickest route to get where you are going is with a low paying job. Maybe that low-paying job itself won’t be that fulfilling, but it gets you closer to the career and lifestyle you want. Conversely, there are some jobs that pay pretty well and are tolerable enough but aren’t really going to lead you down a path to fulfillment. If you are young and don’t have anyone depending on you, then go for the first kind, IMHO.
On a side note, yes, NYC is full of opportunities to make some cash on the side, all you need to do is go out and hunt them down. You’ll be fine.
It wasn’t until this post that I realized what had bothered me about other posts in the thread. IMHO, your work should not give you fulfillment. It can certainly play a part in it, but it should not define who you are and be your happiness. It’s what you do, it’s not who you are.
That being said, if the choice is to be between making righteous bucks doing something you hate and getting-by bucks doing something you enjoy, that’s an easy choice to make, and it’s the lesson I learned from the phrase “money can’t buy happiness.”
I am a senior manager in an IT company; I love dealing with technology and its challenges, and I like the people I work with, but the last line of production code I wrote was in 1988 and now as a manager most of my time is spent dealing with problems that shouldn’t have happened in the first place, placating tense customers, replacing lost staff, writing proposals to beg for new work, and other stuff that is no fun. But every job has stuff that is no fun so I figure I’m better off being stressed in a well-paying job instead of being stressed as a starving jazz guitar player.