Choose Interesting Over Salary
Our son recently graduated college and he faced the grueling prospect of finding his first “real” job. He had an offer to work for a professor doing extremely interesting work but paying less than working in the private sector.
He wanted to know my opinion.
Every parent knows how difficult it is to advise their grown children. It isn’t my life so I’m hesitant to push.
I thought long and hard about what to say.
Before answering, I reflected on some of my choices:
- Joined the Marine Corp Reserves to have a change from driving a tractor during the summer. Turned out to be the summer from hell, but changed me in surprising ways that paid off later.
- Rejected a solid corporate job straight out of college and went to work for a Texas wildcatter who sent us to Russia for two years. Massive culture shock for 2 Southerners from small towns.
- Took a job helping to manage a gold mine in Nicaragua. Driving around with $250K of gold every other week was too exciting, I started having panic attacks due to stress and fear.
- Watched all my college friends get professional degrees and great jobs while it felt I was just screwing around.
- Taught myself to program so I could start an Internet business. This was harder than it sounds back in the day (no great Medium articles on how to do it). Worked 100 hours for 2 years trying to get it off the ground. I was completely energized and passionate but, again, saw very little progress.
- Built what became Match.com with a friend of mine, Dave Kennedy. Finally, we achieved some financial security!!
Even to this day, I try weird things out and have too many subjects I’m interested in. I sometimes ask myself why I keep taking on so many new projects (currently learning higher math), but I am never bored.
Looking back over my life the pattern is clear, I’ve optimized for interesting and passionate over short term gains.
Let me be clear. When I say ‘choose interesting’, what I’m not talking about are bullshit posts on social media that make your “friends” jealous.
I’m talking about pursuing what you find interesting, not what you think others will find interesting.
It is picking something you care about and then putting the sweat and tears into mastering the skills necessary to realize that dream.
Know that you may never accomplish the original goal, but forcefully pursuing passions will build skills that eventually lead to personal success.
So, you might still be wondering, what did I tell my son?
“Son, I’ve never gone the regular path in life. Your mom and I always choose interesting over prestige and money. Surprisingly, it led to both eventually.”
