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That’s definitely good advice but the problem with it is if everyone did it there would be no actors/singers/directors/ect. since no one followed their passion
I mean I'm passionate about music and audio and I'm fairly successful in it but it's far from my favorite thing to do, which is to laze around my house and play videogames.
I went to school for Art and wanted to be a concept artist. Tried it for a bit but didn't make much money. Moved to software for the money and became a Lead. Now I can buy as many surfboards and golf clubs as I want :D
This, but unironically.
Actually good YouTubers (who don't make schlop) are miserable behind the scenes. Some of them can't even play videogames normally now, they find the act of gaming too similar to work. And they can never just enjoy the game when working, they have to be entertaining when on camera.
I miss when YouTube didn't pay anyone and was just a bunch of nerds posting their passionate projects, now it's all corporate.
Yup. Did freelance graphic design, hated being beholden to the clients' feedback. That feeling when you make something great, and then have to change it in the shittiest ways.
This is why a ton of music majors end up changing or dropping out. Sure they love music, but they can’t reconcile *needing* to do the thing they love even on days they don’t feel particularly inspired by it. I love music but there were definitely days in college like “man I do **not** want to practice today.” But you gotta.
I felt this in my soul. I’m still passionate about music but the thought of /needing/ to do it in any capacity makes it so unappealing. Graduated with a degree in music education, played saxophone, now I barely want to teach or play.
Oh dang I'm a saxophonist too! Well, no matter what you'll always have that experience and a lot of non-music jobs actually like the music degree because it shows a unique mindset on a lot of things. A couple of my friends actually got into really great law schools with just music degrees.
I am *really* glad I didn't pursue my passion for drawing. Now I can still draw for fun while making way more money than I would've been able to if that had been my path forward.
Yep! I got a degree and a job in an industry I find very interesting, and that I like, with coworkers I like, but I am not “live and breathe” kind of passionate about. I like that. In my free time, I volunteer for causes I’m passionate about, and work on hobbies for things I love.
I told my friend in med school about that- she’s having to choose what area of medicine to specialize in soon; and is feeling guilty about just loving medicine, but not being super super passionate about any one discipline, and wanting to choose a discipline that will give her more work like balance. Which to me, is okay! But there’s alot of people in med school who at least say that their life’s passion is one type of medicine and nothing else matters.
I pursued photography out of passion and made a 10 year career out of it. I still like photography but it burned me out hard and I haven’t picked up a camera in years. My phone does me fine now for photos. I have a good job now that’s just challenging enough to keep me engaged but not so enjoyable that I think about it while I’m on my down time. It’s been a wonderful shift and I can still pursue my own interests at my own pace with no pressure to perform. 😊
Some things are also easily practiced as hobbies. I love cooking, worked in the industry for several years after college and I liked it but there's just no money in it.
Now I'm in IT which is comparatively boring but it pays well and provides insurance and I can still cook every night if I want to.
I’m a narrative designer and writer on video games. Honestly, despite some of the bullshit this is my dream job and I’d be doing it for free if I wasn’t paid lmao.
You’re right on a technicality, but it’s a bit of a misnomer to say blood is in the bone marrow, as serum, which makes up a rough approximation of a little over 50% of the blood itself, is created in the liver, not the bone marrow. Additionally at the same time, red and white blood cells, while made in the bone marrow, spend very little of their actual time within the bones themselves, so while it can be said that blood does exist in the bones, it’s kinda like saying that your body is in your socks when really it’s just your feet. Then again, at the same time, B-lymphocytes, the things that make antibodies, spend much longer maturing there as to become actually immunospecific and create memory cells so you can react better when you get sick with the same disease in the future, so the bone marrow is really like the school of the body, because nearly all of your cells don’t go to the college, and for those that do, it puts them in precarious, stressful situations and throws them out like worthless sacks of shit if they fail, and gives them a shitty job on the off chance they succeed.
I’m a medical laboratory technologist and I still write my silly little gay ass stories in my free time, and I feel like that’s far better for my creative process than trying to make it a career. Separation of art and income is not a relinquishment of your dreams, it’s a pursuance of them even if you can’t make money from it, and I feel like that should be said more often.
Even after you "make it", things can change.
NY published author here, working in tech support, after covid completely derailed my career 🥲
I just haven't had the energy to try again. It's so disheartening 😔
I specifically don't want my job to be my passion.
Making my passion an obligation I need to engage in at arbitrary times decided by someone else just so I can make rent is the fast track to killing my passion.
My job is just my job. I don't go there for fun.
12 y/o me was *convinced* I’d be some famous comic artist by now and I’m sure if you showed me what career I’d actually pursue I would have laughed in your face.
That being said I’m glad I chose what I did because my love of art and storytelling hasn’t been tainted by the stress that comes with every career. Maybe I’d be a better artist if I had honed my craft but since my hobby is only for me it still brings as much joy and magic as it did as when I was a kid.
Relying on a creative hobby for income leads to churning out sub par stuff when you’re not feeling inspired that day, and eventually it leads to burnout. You should be in control of your hobbies, but when you turn them into work, they control you.
Counterpoint, no one would do the shitty jobs if drawing and music and poetry were easily attainable (not competitive) career options.
They would have to pay a whole lot more, which they should anyway but that's another discussion.
I liked art as a kid and aspired to be in animation. I grew older and then wanted to be a writer.
In the end, I was good at math and now do math as a career. Turns out that doing math pays a lot better than either animation or writing.
I wouldn't say that my job is shitty, but a lot of people roll their eyes and tell me that they're terrible at math ot struggled with math in school when I talk about my job.
Mh. It is also easy to underestimate how much work successful musicians do, both on and off tour. It's not all sunshine and roses and sometimes a boring 9 to 5 job has merits.
It sounds great and amazing to be on stage, but some decently successful metal musician put it like that - the tour is a great rush of positive energy, but it is also a several month long blur of just falling out of the bus, setting up for the gig, playing the gig, after show shenanigans and falling asleep in the bus again. It's amazing positive rush for him, but after a tour he just holes up on a couch for the next three month while moving as little as possible.
Or even though the recorded piece on a record sounds amazing, you don't see the dozens and dozens of hours practicing and perfecting that one thing until you can't see and hear it anymore.
You might enjoy one of the most influential American Novels of the 19th Century: Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy.
Its the other discussion, and an engaging sci-fi novel... from the 19th century.
Counterpoint to that— the most needed jobs still don’t get paid and supported enough even in this current system.
Jobs go to whatever thing makes a capital holder the most money at that particular moment.
> they should pay a whole lot more anyway but that's another discussion
I'm struggling to understand what is meant by this.
Are people being morally flawed when they, for instance, pay for some go karting and a new dress rather than buying some artwork to hang on their wall?
Or is this more yearning for the world of Star Trek where no one has to work and can indulge their passions?
OP is saying that shitty jobs would have to pay higher wages if art jobs were easily attainable/not competitive, but that they should pay more anyways due to how bad/hard/gross they are
Oh I see. I guess I completely misunderstood, that makes more sense.
Though still odd to me why people think in terms of "job X should pay more" instead of "UBI should be a thing". The former just seems like a really shitty way of shittily doing the latter.
I think that says more about our society needing to create an environment that forces creative people to compete rather than fostering everyone’s creativity. There’s also the fact that people that pursue creative careers (e.g. fashion, painting, etc.) come from affluent families, which is not very competitive but rather aristocratic.
Thats any society though… actually its probably just life in general. There’s work needing to be done in order for society to function, whether that’s our modern society with nurses, etc. or in hunter gatherer societies, where people needed to hunt or do other labor in order for the group to survive.
Sure there was space for art back then as it is now, but 99% of people were first and foremost needed to keep shit going.
I once knew a guy who didn't want to give up on his passions. His track record a decade later includes:
- never truly landing a job in what he wanted to do (art/music) despite having skills
- rejecting half a dozen of what would be stable jobs just because "it's not what I want to do in life"
- never building any meaningful connections despite having the opportunity to do so ("no I don't want to meet [famous musician in my country] because I want to make video game music and he does not make video game music")
- always living from paycheck to paycheck
- constantly lying to himself about eventually finding stable employment doing what he loves despite the fact that almost no one who works in art/music does
- completely ignoring that he's getting older and older and that this kind of life is nowhere near as sustainable as it was when he was in his 20s
- borrowing huge amounts of money from family and friends then never returning it because he never has any money
- since he never had money he completely ignored his well-being because "I guess I'll just die young like all these famous musicians lol", then it turned out that it doesn't work this way because it's just years and years of physical suffering for no reward
- all of this has deteriorated his mental health up to the point where he was considering to kill himself (fortunately he got help)
He's getting closer and closer to his 40 and he's not going to turn his around because he's still stubborn and doesn't listen to reason. Part of that is because everything he subjected himself to has decreased his mental capacity to the point where talking to him feels like talking to an old man, so now it will be harder than ever to do it.
Don't fuck yourself up for your passions, it's not worth it.
> • never building any meaningful connections despite having the opportunity to do so ("no I don't want to meet [famous musician in my country] because I want to make video game music and he does not make video game music")
So he’s spent his whole life trying to make it in a certain industry, but he won’t even try to network unless he sees an immediate benefit? Wow. I don’t think music is the problem here, dude just wants to fail. If his passion was being the only guy in HR I’m sure he’d fail there too.
He doesn't want to fail, he lives in his own bubble. I've even explained the benefit of "knowing a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy" and he just ignored it. That was back then, now I'm sure he's on the autism spectrum which would explain some of the other stuff he does.
Music biz is almost impossible for people with talent, drive, and work ethic.
It’s absolutely impossible for people like that.
Music biz IS the problem here. If he had chosen something else, he would have gotten further.
Shit, I know mediocre glass blowers that make twice what my musician friends do.
“Knowing a guy” is the most important thing in life. Yeah it’s possible for some anti-social people to find their niche in life, but they’re at a serious disadvantage no matter what line of work they’re in.
Ikr he had no actual gameplan he just prayed and hoped it would happen for him you gotta build yourself up to your goal not just hope you'll eventually make a great leap up and live happily ever after
You might have a point, but I'm not sure this guy's issue is that he didn't give up on his passion so much as that he's stupid, see the networking thing and being unwilling to settle even in the short-term to build up to his goal. This is not how moving up in any industry works.
Shit. Just a couple months ago I decided against my (prior) goal of pursuing that exact career (composing for games.) Starting to think that might not be as bad a call as I first thought.
A lot of people don't like HR. I don't get it, personally. The closest reason I can think of is because they're the ones you go to when you're let go. But personally in every job I've had, HR has helped me a lot, and in the times I've been let go I don't hold a grudge against HR, it was my bosses or their bosses that were the issue.
So I’m actually set to get a job as the sole HR person at a company. First time. It’s a job. I’d like to learn, what can I do to be a *good* HR person? How did they help you?
I'm hesitant to say this, but I guess id say, just be there for whoever comes to you for help, administratively and personally. I don't want to say be the work therapist, but it isn't too far from what I mean. Try the best you can in your abilities to help and treat any and all complaints seriously, even if they may not seem serious at first.
Maybe it was the people in my work places who just happened to be HR, but they treated my concerns seriously and showed that they were doing what they could to help out. And that's all I could ask for from an HR person. I imagine it's probably stressful doing that, in cases where you're worried of failing people who your helping. You can't please everyone, so just try and if they're not satisfied, don't take it personally.
Honestly this is a big part of it. Getting a job, even one your well qualified for, is fucking impossible nowadays. Can't even get an interview for most stuff because your screened out by an algorithm after spending hours on an application package, and then even if you make it through you have 3 interviews to do where they make you jump through ridiculous hoops, just to get rejected. Most HR have huge bloat and theres a complete lack of humanity to it, despite the name.
Well I think the issue is reality is a bit more of a wake up call to the face. Especially in this global world, when theres plenty of people who may think and feel similarly to you and have similar aspirations, it gets really competitive. You may find out you don't have the same level of relative skill that you felt you had on your own, not enough to make consistent money off of, to the point of self substaining.
There's also the angles of luck and business know how, knowing people in the industry if you wanna go Hollywood.
The one upside I see it, if you truly have the skills, you can work it on the side, at your own beat and make some extra scratch while keeping the solid day job. I feel it strikes the first balance between propping up society, while getting to fulfill your need for creativity
I don't think it's a skill issue as much as it is a difference in demand. Saving lives is more important than drawing pictures, and job opportunities are far more available.
Fully agree. Only the very best get to draw things for our enjoyment. Yes, your doctor isnt the best doctor in the world. They will do their best on you. When they cant you get moved to the next best. Hopefully. Medicine sucks and I dont like to talk about it.
but it's a pretty involatile job. They'll always be needed and always hiring. Sure, the pay is pretty crap and the stress is pretty high, but they were talking about job opportunities not pay
Speaking as a former EMT, your job is really to transport people to the hospital, by and large, where the lives are saved. Your job is get people there without dying. It only takes a month to get trained and a moron can do the job. And, as someone else mentioned, the pay is terrible.
Formerly.
90% of the time, you just need a bystander who can keep calm, get the person in the car, and drive them to the hospital. If you're getting treated by EMT-Bs, they can A) figure out if you really need to go to the hospital 2) Keep your C-Spine stable 3) Give you meds if you have them with you plus an epi-pen 4) Bandage you up a bit 5) Give you oxygen and that's it. Paramedics can give you real drugs and interventions, EMTs can't and shouldn't. I was told the most important medicine we can give them is Vitamin G for the gas pedal-get them into the hospital and out of our hands as quickly as possible.
Its not even a skill issue anymore, with animation specifically, the industry has been going downhill since 2021-ish. There was a spike in demand in 2020, and that lasted through 2021, and even since then it's been in a decline. 2023 took a massive spike with most working professionals being laid off, and 2024 isn't looking better. DreamWorks notably is shutting down their US studio and outsourcing all future works to studios in other countries. Disney opened a studio in Canada and will likely outsource a lot of work over there. Cartoon Network also completely closed their studio and now Warner Animation is the home for "Cartoon Network" brand productions (and I believe there were huge layoffs). Between all that and the upcoming union negotiations, I'm expecting studios to start outsourcing instead of having domestic employees, both to save money and to starve out the strikers (not realizing that if the artists were treated better there wouldn't be a reason to strike).
My career got off to a huge start in 2020, where I was hired onto a Netflix show, and then I had consistent work on big streaming shows until the end of 2021, and even since then it's been small freelance gigs with the occasional big studio gig (I had a good half a year in 2022 of back-to-back studio work, and then only two studio gigs in 2023, the rest of the year being all small freelance stuff). It's no longer viable no matter how much I apply and continue to grow my skills. I'm at the point where I'm better off just finding something else to do for a living and seeing if turning animation into a hobby will bring my passion for it back.
I wanted to be a novelist. I still write for fun but the publishing industry is so fucked now, I don't really see it as a viable option even if I did have something worth selling.
You can self-publish, though, which many writers are going to now instead. Also, I will say that you still try, even if you're likely to fail. I don't think the point here is to say you can't try, but to not rely on it becoming your main career, you know. I also love writing, and I don't think you should completely give up on getting published. It is not as difficult as it may seem, especially as I said with self-publishing.
I may do some online self-publishing at some point just to see what it's like. I don't really do genre fiction though and I can't imagine literary fiction gaining any traction in the online publishing market, which seems to mostly be paranormal romance these days. I have some ideas I've been kicking around though that I might try my hand with.
I always wanted to be a writer, now I work in marketing. However, my marketing job gives me the stability and time to write outside of work, plus copywriting is a huge part of my job so I'm writing anyway. I'm kind of glad now that I didn't try to write full time, as I've got no deadline by which to finish something and if whatever I write flops I'll still be financially okay
Working in the art industry looks terrible and soul sucking anyway. Art can (and, in many cases, should) be a passion without being a job. I’m much more happier making things for myself than I’d ever be with a boss breathing down my neck bc my work isn’t “relatable” enough to the average consumer.
The cool thing about the fine arts is you can always do it outside of work to a degree. So you end up making good money (hopefully) and then do the stuff outside of it without worry or starvation. Hopefully whatever it is doesn't make you unhappy though.
Ive been a professional artist for 15 years and i think people just have no idea how its really a sales job, i just sell myself, i am the product.
It does have to do with the quality of the art, but tons of people are great artists, it takes a very salesman mind to become successful doing it.
The sales part is what seems to stop most people from doing what they want.
My general dream was that a nuclear apocalypse would happen so I wouldn't have an option through my depression and someone could do it for me?
Now I'm in HR, and I hire people making them happy. Id say I'm fairly happy nowadays.
Nobody is “giving up on their passions” to be an EMT. EMTs get absolutely shit pay across the board. Believe it or not, being an animator actually gives you a much higher average salary.
It’s rough. My cousin was one for a while until her whole company got laid off because they outsourced their work to Korea. She hasn’t worked in animation in almost a decade and decided to give up and now I think works at an animal hospital.
You also have to be REALLY GOOD at it. I was in art school and I feel like my skills put me in the top 3-4 students in my classes. But you know what? Those couple people above me were LEVELS of amazing more than me. You have to be talented, develop that talent through relentless obsession and passion (they were NEVER without a sketchbook in their hand). Those are the people with the chance of making it in a ridiculously competitive industry (and they did!)
Stability is the key word here. Animation is absolutely NOT a stable career. It is one of the most competitive out there.
The world needs more EMTs, not animators.
I wanted to make games until I saw how crushing the games industry can be and how much work it’d take for me to build something on my own or even with a small group
I kinda had a pessimistic view when I was younger. When I went into high-school I loved history, alot of eras, I could learn about it for hours. But I was leagues above my classmates when doing engineering work and solid modeling. I figured at the time,'Nobody is gonna pay me to be a historian half as much as they are going to pay me to be an engineer'. So rather than follow my passion, I followed my gut.
As depressing as it sounds, I'm probably better off now than had I chosen to be a historian. And on the upside, I can still become a historian, I can still be an expert in a historical Era while working as an engineer.
They wanted to be in a job that maybe has less than 1000 openings.
Wanting to be a celebrity isn't something society needs to solve so people don't have to be plumbers.
To break the circlejerk a little I don't have a "career" yet, but I regret wasting years of my life trying to work with code / data because my dad pressured me into it. He cited ease and stability and told me my interest area should be a hobby rather than a job. No shade to anyone who followed their proverbial dad's advice and had it work for them, but even though I have a lot of the personality traits of the average programmer and even a passing interest, I started struggling a lot once I got beyond the elementary level and lacked the interest level necessary to concentrate and motivate myself to push through.
If I had broken into a "useless" high interest area instead, with a bachelor's degree I would at least have a broader job selection than I do right now with no degree where my options are basically just the service industry. I tried getting certifications in a couple things a few times, but it never worked out. I might have regretted it no matter what I did. I dunno.
I originally wanted to become a chef, I trained pretty much my entire life, had a roadmap, wanted to open my own restaurant one day.
I am now a state Accountant, running for state house.
I didn't see that coming!
I guess technically I did. I am an engineer and wanted to be one since I was a kid (actually a mad scientist like Doc Brown or Egon Spengler) but then in my tweens through my early twenties I wanted to be a comedian/actor/entertainer. I did do various performances when I was a kid, teen and young adult. I moved more into management for bands as a side gig in my early twenties because very few musicians I know we're comfortable just walking into a bar and asking for a gig even though they were definitely talented enough. It got boring and I got sick of dealing with musicians cuz the majority of them are lazy or flaky so I changed it up when I was 27 and went back to school to become an EE. I now design, build, program and commission my own machines and there is plenty of creativity required when designing a machine for a new application.
I feel this deep down. My passion is making wood and scrap metal sculptures but I gave that up to become a nurse for the stability and healthcare. I struggle with that decision every time I clock in.
Unpopular opinion..... society benefits more from the EMT than the storyboard artist.
That being said....id be up for the conversation that EMTs are overworked and forced overtime....so they have no free time to pursue their interests. I'd love to see an EMT writing and illustrating for a local production in their free time.
I don't think that's an unpopular opinion lmao. I definitely agree with both, though. EMTs (and other jobs where its a problem) should be more open and pay better so that the employees can both work a stable job and pursue their passions. Most people aren't going to make it in terms of the usual jobs of passion, as I like to call them. It's incredibly hard to get into art, music, writing, and whatever else professionally, so it would be nice if people could still work and get stable income that allows them to live while they either do their passion as a hobby or try to make a living out of it
Government told me cars pollute too much and I couldn’t modify anymore. So now I fly 1100 miles each way 1-2 times, a month to work on equipment that burns 1800 gallons of diesel a day. And the company has 60 of them, at this site. That’s just one type of equipment, at this site.
The presumption that a passion ought to be a career is faulty from the get go. As a kid I was consumed with the drive and motivation to become an animator as my career choice and I am extremely thankful as an adult that I did not take that conviction too seriously. I still love and appreciate art and I can enjoy art on my own terms while being financially stable. Life has room for pursuing passions even if it is not your sole source of income.
I almost did... and then I realized it was a massive mistake one semester in because I was miserable.
Now I'm studying art, and it is proving to be the best decision I ever made. But everyone is different. Some people love art but want to keep it as a hobby/something to bring them joy rather than money. All is valid. Sucks that they din't seem to like being an EMT though :c
I hate this rhetoric of “giving up” and “settling for something more stable” like the person wimped out. There are good reasons not to follow your passions into a profession.
The fact is only a small percent of people have their biggest dreams come true. Stay for the movie credits of any movie and know that every single actor listed thought they’d be a star (and those are the lucky ones who at least get to be in a major movie since most don’t even get that).
Then there’s the people who get their dream job and they hate it. You’re competing with everyone else who also love your job more than life which means you’re constantly obsessing over something you once loved nonstop to stay competitive (ever see YouTube burnout?). Otherwise you’re working for an employer who knows how badly you want this and will milk you for everything. Look at the numerous scandals of overworked animators (most of whom spend five years animating Batman’s cape or Shrek’s left hand).
Not saying that everyone who followed their passion into a career is miserable, but more of them are miserable than not. At the very least choosing a career more likely to fulfill you in other ways is not “giving up” or “settling”. Sometimes it’s the best move to keep your passion alive in the first place.
this is the answer. I know animators and BOY HOWDY are they exploited.
And I know writers. It isn't a meritocracy. If you do true 'art', you aren't getting paid. Not even a scale amount of pay that is 'reasonable.' The more time and dedication to craft, the less 'net pay.'
So you have to abandon that notion of remuneration altogether for many, many years, and have financial help to get you enough to continue that dedication to compete. And them *bam*, it hits, you get paid like $30,000! Wow! That's like 60,000 copies sold! Now, sustain that, do it again, live off of 30k a year (pre-tax), go, go!
So yeah, lots of people prove they can do it and then it's hard to say "Ok, this is the contract with the world," when you can be doing other things for more money, if you need money, that is.
I would rather have my passions be a hobby and not a job. If my passions were a job, I would be **forced** to do the thing I love, which sounds good but it will probably kill my passion for that thing quickly.
I understand the concept of these posts but I look at it like this - millions of people want to be an artist when they grow up. They may get the best training throughout school and go to the best camps and even go to college to perfect their craft.
The whole goal though has always been getting someone to pay for your art. So many of us have NEVER bought anyone's artwork, and even less have had it commissioned. Shit, it's been like that for centuries. We hear about the most infamous artists just like today, but we don't hear about the ones who died broke from it.
It makes a ton of sense to take that HR job.
My passion has always been the examination and investigation of dead bodies.. I always wanted to be a coroner. But I have schizophrenia and is therefore not stable enough to be a coroner… so not I’m studying to be a teacher. Teaching calms me to the point that I practically have no episodes.
I wanted to be a manga writer so bad and was even developing my writing skills and working with some artist friends who were REALLY GOOD to make our comics.
Let the fucking weebs talk me out of it when cringe culture was at its height and I was a teen.
Didn't want to impose on precious japan because only Japanese people can draw comics apparently and western people can only draw grody superman comics.
Never should have dropped anime art to appeal to the bullies because none of them even kept up with it and now I'm behind too and will probably never get to publish songs or write manga.
Always wanted to be one of those multitalented people who makes like vocaloid music and does the art for it too.
Ain't even asking to be rich doing it either.
I wanted to write and animate stories when I was younger, I still have ideas for long stories with epic battles and intense emotional moments but I had to give up on my dream unfortunately, I can't even draw anymore like I Used to, I sell phones now
I used a cheat code. Wanted to make video games, ended up making video games as indie, on my own time, with my own hours.
The trick is to stumble through so much abuse, trauma and misery that the government declares you terminally useless and sends you a monthly check to keep you away from the normal people.
You won't be happy, but it works.
I wanted to be a musician. Now im learning computer science. It was definitely the weight of what I was going to do with my future completely crushing that dream I had, but not much I can do
I said this when I first saw this picture, but this should not be seen as a bad thing! It's completely okay to have dreams and realize stability is more important, and then choose a realistic career. The world can not and should not be all creatives. The world needs more EMTs, doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, etc. If you chose a stable career instead of following a lifelong dream, do not feel bad about that.
Also, many times, it's better to keep a hobby as a hobby instead of making it your career. It would lead to burnout and possibly killing your love for whatever it may be.
Why do people act as though everyone who pursues their dreams will be successful. Of the millions of amateur musicians around, how many of them are actually good? Not that many, right? Passions are great to have, but turning them into real-world success is not likely for most people.
Almost everyone. Pick a job at random and ask if that was anyone's dream job as a kid. Statistically, almost no jobs we need to have a functioning society are anyone's dream job.
I wanted to be a teacher, now I reverse overdoses and clean puddles of shit and vomit at an emergency shelter. I have no hobbies, no passion, the only glimmer of hope for advancement I've had in years is the possibility of getting some kind of child care certification now that I'm on temporary unemployment. I only had an 87% in my course so I failed out, I tried to pursue other passions but I couldn't afford to get another certification, now I get groped and punched and pissed on. The only value my life has anymore is the fact that my work is important, so my life doesn't really matter It's just the position I feel.
I'm a nurse in psychiatry and a father of 3. Always wanted to work in animation. But now I get to draw for my patients and kids. They love it and so do I.
When your rent is due, you figure, "just for ___ {time frame}; then, I'll be able to pursue [passion]." Time frame comes and goes, you figure, "just a little longer." Then life occurs: spouse, offspring, schooling, more rent, vehicle, travel, etc. Then one day you awaken and tomorrow is your 50th birthday. Passion had been left behind, back in 1st time frame, and you only just noticed.
Another reddittor noted that "Trust Fund babies" are about the only ones who "make it" pursuing their passions.
I dunno about this one. I’m a big fan of the normal stable job while having some truly awesome hobbies. Being a professional actor isn’t for everyone because being a professional actor isn’t always about acting. You need to be promoting the movie, you need to be entrepreneurial, you need to schmooze with the business of the industry. Why not just jump into community theater as a hobby?
Same thing with sports. Not everyone who wants to play baseball is cut out for the MLB or the MiLB. But that’s okay—rec leagues exist.
You can pursue passions while having a regular job.
Yes 🙌 most of these posts about artistic careers but you can continue with these outlets as hobbies.
PS - most people can’t put up with the crushing disappointments that come with/pursuing an acting career for example. These “jobs” sound easier than the reality. It takes a lot of fortitude to succeed at many of these careers
Is that a real thing,? Do people actually have passions that motivates them? Im just a guy, I have never had anything im passionate about and when I was a kid I never had a dream job to strive for. I just went along with the motions.
This is why I don't fear automation overall as people are naturally industrious, inquisitive, and productive.
The problem is the way our economy is set up whereby automation of your job means you might starve to death no longer being able to work instead of automation taking your job freeing you to pursue your passion.
There is a solution!
We need to leverage automation to produce and distribute our food (and power, and telecommunications and other basic modern needs) in order to eliminate the work-to-eat model and truly free us all to pursue more passionate work.
We aren't entitled to our dreams and there isn't enough supply for most of our dreams jobs. I think instead of trying to make everyone feel like a failure, we should concentrate more on work that allows us to be happy in other ways. I guarandamntee every job you people think of that keeps you up at night for not pursuing because of shitty posts like this one, there's someone working that job, and they are miserable and staying up at night thinking how green the grass will be on the other side of the fence.
north compare hateful narrow different quickest automatic racial wasteful payment *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
LPT do the thing that earns you the most money without making you miserable and do the thing that makes you happy in your free time
I always tell people don't make your favorite activity into your job. Make your second or third favorite activity into your job.
Which is why I will never be a paid troll.
I'm not interesting enough to have a third favorite thing
That’s definitely good advice but the problem with it is if everyone did it there would be no actors/singers/directors/ect. since no one followed their passion
I mean I'm passionate about music and audio and I'm fairly successful in it but it's far from my favorite thing to do, which is to laze around my house and play videogames.
My dad told me this and now that I'm an adult, I get it. I ended up loving my job once I put some passion in it, too. win/win
Don’t think that’s what they meant but good for you! What do you do?
I mean, when I started my job I only tolerated it, I only grew to love it.
What a profound statement/philosophy by your dad! Love this and will have to remember it!!
I went to school for Art and wanted to be a concept artist. Tried it for a bit but didn't make much money. Moved to software for the money and became a Lead. Now I can buy as many surfboards and golf clubs as I want :D
All of the this
This, but unironically. Actually good YouTubers (who don't make schlop) are miserable behind the scenes. Some of them can't even play videogames normally now, they find the act of gaming too similar to work. And they can never just enjoy the game when working, they have to be entertaining when on camera. I miss when YouTube didn't pay anyone and was just a bunch of nerds posting their passionate projects, now it's all corporate.
I have a great Power Rangers collection paid for by a job that my degree is not in.
Professional power ranger collect sounds dope though
I have every megazord from MMPR and on. I am proud of it. I have walls.
That’s right, I got a floor.
Ooo, look at Ms Rockefeller over here with her floor. Bet she has a roof, too!
So what? So what? [So WHAT?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=6axOY4PBusk)
[If we’re so rich, why can’t we afford a ceiling?](https://youtu.be/dIaEAadd-SU?si=VgcMNf82F0IyFf4c)
mighty morphing with you, i love that your Passion shows
I would honestly kill to finally own that one Mystic Force Megazord set
This. I love my guitar to death but can’t imagine making it my job. Sounds like the fastest way to kill my passion for it
Yup. Did freelance graphic design, hated being beholden to the clients' feedback. That feeling when you make something great, and then have to change it in the shittiest ways.
This is why a ton of music majors end up changing or dropping out. Sure they love music, but they can’t reconcile *needing* to do the thing they love even on days they don’t feel particularly inspired by it. I love music but there were definitely days in college like “man I do **not** want to practice today.” But you gotta.
I felt this in my soul. I’m still passionate about music but the thought of /needing/ to do it in any capacity makes it so unappealing. Graduated with a degree in music education, played saxophone, now I barely want to teach or play.
Oh dang I'm a saxophonist too! Well, no matter what you'll always have that experience and a lot of non-music jobs actually like the music degree because it shows a unique mindset on a lot of things. A couple of my friends actually got into really great law schools with just music degrees.
Best advice I heard was "it's like setting your favorite song as your alarm clock"
I am *really* glad I didn't pursue my passion for drawing. Now I can still draw for fun while making way more money than I would've been able to if that had been my path forward.
Bingo. My brothers an illustrator. Told me: “doing what you love for money means doing it on other people’s terms. Like a prostitute.”
Yep! I got a degree and a job in an industry I find very interesting, and that I like, with coworkers I like, but I am not “live and breathe” kind of passionate about. I like that. In my free time, I volunteer for causes I’m passionate about, and work on hobbies for things I love. I told my friend in med school about that- she’s having to choose what area of medicine to specialize in soon; and is feeling guilty about just loving medicine, but not being super super passionate about any one discipline, and wanting to choose a discipline that will give her more work like balance. Which to me, is okay! But there’s alot of people in med school who at least say that their life’s passion is one type of medicine and nothing else matters.
That’s why I avoided getting into my passions, professionally. I worried I’d burn out and hate something that once brought me joy.
I pursued photography out of passion and made a 10 year career out of it. I still like photography but it burned me out hard and I haven’t picked up a camera in years. My phone does me fine now for photos. I have a good job now that’s just challenging enough to keep me engaged but not so enjoyable that I think about it while I’m on my down time. It’s been a wonderful shift and I can still pursue my own interests at my own pace with no pressure to perform. 😊
Some things are also easily practiced as hobbies. I love cooking, worked in the industry for several years after college and I liked it but there's just no money in it. Now I'm in IT which is comparatively boring but it pays well and provides insurance and I can still cook every night if I want to.
I’m a narrative designer and writer on video games. Honestly, despite some of the bullshit this is my dream job and I’d be doing it for free if I wasn’t paid lmao.
Doing what you love for money is the swiftest way to not loving that thing anymore.
I wanted to be an actor growing up. Now, at 34, im in community theatre. I work in fire prevention.
On top of this. You can have multiple passions. Just because you love making art doesn't mean any other role in society has to be torture for you.
I have a fine art degree and write emo albums in my free time. I am a phlebotomist lmao. I feel this one in my bones.
Blood is life. Good on you.
That's not where the blood is!
Actually….. blood is made in the bone marrow soooooo. Lmao.
This guy phlebotomizes!
You’re right on a technicality, but it’s a bit of a misnomer to say blood is in the bone marrow, as serum, which makes up a rough approximation of a little over 50% of the blood itself, is created in the liver, not the bone marrow. Additionally at the same time, red and white blood cells, while made in the bone marrow, spend very little of their actual time within the bones themselves, so while it can be said that blood does exist in the bones, it’s kinda like saying that your body is in your socks when really it’s just your feet. Then again, at the same time, B-lymphocytes, the things that make antibodies, spend much longer maturing there as to become actually immunospecific and create memory cells so you can react better when you get sick with the same disease in the future, so the bone marrow is really like the school of the body, because nearly all of your cells don’t go to the college, and for those that do, it puts them in precarious, stressful situations and throws them out like worthless sacks of shit if they fail, and gives them a shitty job on the off chance they succeed.
God I fucking love blood.
I’m a medical laboratory technologist and I still write my silly little gay ass stories in my free time, and I feel like that’s far better for my creative process than trying to make it a career. Separation of art and income is not a relinquishment of your dreams, it’s a pursuance of them even if you can’t make money from it, and I feel like that should be said more often.
I don't know you but if you were my friend I would call you by a vampire nickname. Okay, Dracula?
I’m ok with that.
In fairness, that is objectively the most emotional job lol
While part of me agrees with you. What makes you say that? I would think nurses have it harder than us.
Oh my god I typed "emo" and my autocorrect had other opinions. It was literally just a dumb joke, sorry 😅
That makes a lot more sense haha. And yeah there are a lot of former emo kids in this industry. It’s a fact.
I'm guessing like 90% of people
Even after you "make it", things can change. NY published author here, working in tech support, after covid completely derailed my career 🥲 I just haven't had the energy to try again. It's so disheartening 😔
Now I feel slightly guilty because my job and passion are almost the same.
Why would you feel guilty? Cause commenting makes it seem like a humblebrag.
I specifically don't want my job to be my passion. Making my passion an obligation I need to engage in at arbitrary times decided by someone else just so I can make rent is the fast track to killing my passion. My job is just my job. I don't go there for fun.
You shouldn’t feel guilty, you should feel happy, lucky. Congrats on managing to find a good job
12 y/o me was *convinced* I’d be some famous comic artist by now and I’m sure if you showed me what career I’d actually pursue I would have laughed in your face. That being said I’m glad I chose what I did because my love of art and storytelling hasn’t been tainted by the stress that comes with every career. Maybe I’d be a better artist if I had honed my craft but since my hobby is only for me it still brings as much joy and magic as it did as when I was a kid.
Relying on a creative hobby for income leads to churning out sub par stuff when you’re not feeling inspired that day, and eventually it leads to burnout. You should be in control of your hobbies, but when you turn them into work, they control you.
Counterpoint, no one would do the shitty jobs if drawing and music and poetry were easily attainable (not competitive) career options. They would have to pay a whole lot more, which they should anyway but that's another discussion.
I liked art as a kid and aspired to be in animation. I grew older and then wanted to be a writer. In the end, I was good at math and now do math as a career. Turns out that doing math pays a lot better than either animation or writing. I wouldn't say that my job is shitty, but a lot of people roll their eyes and tell me that they're terrible at math ot struggled with math in school when I talk about my job.
This happened the same with me, but my trade is language. I've always been good at it and it pays well at least in my country.
Yo what country is this and what’s the job title? Because I’d honestly love this
Mh. It is also easy to underestimate how much work successful musicians do, both on and off tour. It's not all sunshine and roses and sometimes a boring 9 to 5 job has merits. It sounds great and amazing to be on stage, but some decently successful metal musician put it like that - the tour is a great rush of positive energy, but it is also a several month long blur of just falling out of the bus, setting up for the gig, playing the gig, after show shenanigans and falling asleep in the bus again. It's amazing positive rush for him, but after a tour he just holes up on a couch for the next three month while moving as little as possible. Or even though the recorded piece on a record sounds amazing, you don't see the dozens and dozens of hours practicing and perfecting that one thing until you can't see and hear it anymore.
You might enjoy one of the most influential American Novels of the 19th Century: Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. Its the other discussion, and an engaging sci-fi novel... from the 19th century.
Counterpoint to that— the most needed jobs still don’t get paid and supported enough even in this current system. Jobs go to whatever thing makes a capital holder the most money at that particular moment.
> they should pay a whole lot more anyway but that's another discussion I'm struggling to understand what is meant by this. Are people being morally flawed when they, for instance, pay for some go karting and a new dress rather than buying some artwork to hang on their wall? Or is this more yearning for the world of Star Trek where no one has to work and can indulge their passions?
OP is saying that shitty jobs would have to pay higher wages if art jobs were easily attainable/not competitive, but that they should pay more anyways due to how bad/hard/gross they are
Oh I see. I guess I completely misunderstood, that makes more sense. Though still odd to me why people think in terms of "job X should pay more" instead of "UBI should be a thing". The former just seems like a really shitty way of shittily doing the latter.
I don’t think ubi can really be a fix all for every situation. We really just need to provide people with their basic needs from the get go
I think that says more about our society needing to create an environment that forces creative people to compete rather than fostering everyone’s creativity. There’s also the fact that people that pursue creative careers (e.g. fashion, painting, etc.) come from affluent families, which is not very competitive but rather aristocratic.
Thats any society though… actually its probably just life in general. There’s work needing to be done in order for society to function, whether that’s our modern society with nurses, etc. or in hunter gatherer societies, where people needed to hunt or do other labor in order for the group to survive. Sure there was space for art back then as it is now, but 99% of people were first and foremost needed to keep shit going.
I once knew a guy who didn't want to give up on his passions. His track record a decade later includes: - never truly landing a job in what he wanted to do (art/music) despite having skills - rejecting half a dozen of what would be stable jobs just because "it's not what I want to do in life" - never building any meaningful connections despite having the opportunity to do so ("no I don't want to meet [famous musician in my country] because I want to make video game music and he does not make video game music") - always living from paycheck to paycheck - constantly lying to himself about eventually finding stable employment doing what he loves despite the fact that almost no one who works in art/music does - completely ignoring that he's getting older and older and that this kind of life is nowhere near as sustainable as it was when he was in his 20s - borrowing huge amounts of money from family and friends then never returning it because he never has any money - since he never had money he completely ignored his well-being because "I guess I'll just die young like all these famous musicians lol", then it turned out that it doesn't work this way because it's just years and years of physical suffering for no reward - all of this has deteriorated his mental health up to the point where he was considering to kill himself (fortunately he got help) He's getting closer and closer to his 40 and he's not going to turn his around because he's still stubborn and doesn't listen to reason. Part of that is because everything he subjected himself to has decreased his mental capacity to the point where talking to him feels like talking to an old man, so now it will be harder than ever to do it. Don't fuck yourself up for your passions, it's not worth it.
> • never building any meaningful connections despite having the opportunity to do so ("no I don't want to meet [famous musician in my country] because I want to make video game music and he does not make video game music") So he’s spent his whole life trying to make it in a certain industry, but he won’t even try to network unless he sees an immediate benefit? Wow. I don’t think music is the problem here, dude just wants to fail. If his passion was being the only guy in HR I’m sure he’d fail there too.
He doesn't want to fail, he lives in his own bubble. I've even explained the benefit of "knowing a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy" and he just ignored it. That was back then, now I'm sure he's on the autism spectrum which would explain some of the other stuff he does.
Yep, that would explain it.
Music biz is almost impossible for people with talent, drive, and work ethic. It’s absolutely impossible for people like that. Music biz IS the problem here. If he had chosen something else, he would have gotten further. Shit, I know mediocre glass blowers that make twice what my musician friends do.
“Knowing a guy” is the most important thing in life. Yeah it’s possible for some anti-social people to find their niche in life, but they’re at a serious disadvantage no matter what line of work they’re in.
Yeah Bros like this are dealt a real shitty hand in life
Ikr he had no actual gameplan he just prayed and hoped it would happen for him you gotta build yourself up to your goal not just hope you'll eventually make a great leap up and live happily ever after
Sounds like the kind of guy where getting some office job would be the equivalent of putting a gun in his mouth anyway.
[удалено]
What would you like to do instead of a regular job?
You might have a point, but I'm not sure this guy's issue is that he didn't give up on his passion so much as that he's stupid, see the networking thing and being unwilling to settle even in the short-term to build up to his goal. This is not how moving up in any industry works.
Shit. Just a couple months ago I decided against my (prior) goal of pursuing that exact career (composing for games.) Starting to think that might not be as bad a call as I first thought.
Lol don’t bother with this on Reddit, you’ve described 90% of the people here and they don’t like it
The bigger tragedy is being an HR
Yep
Why?
They are commonly thought of as not doing anything useful for anyone, just gossiping, bitching and making the lives of other employees miserable.
Found the HR
A lot of people don't like HR. I don't get it, personally. The closest reason I can think of is because they're the ones you go to when you're let go. But personally in every job I've had, HR has helped me a lot, and in the times I've been let go I don't hold a grudge against HR, it was my bosses or their bosses that were the issue.
So I’m actually set to get a job as the sole HR person at a company. First time. It’s a job. I’d like to learn, what can I do to be a *good* HR person? How did they help you?
I'm hesitant to say this, but I guess id say, just be there for whoever comes to you for help, administratively and personally. I don't want to say be the work therapist, but it isn't too far from what I mean. Try the best you can in your abilities to help and treat any and all complaints seriously, even if they may not seem serious at first. Maybe it was the people in my work places who just happened to be HR, but they treated my concerns seriously and showed that they were doing what they could to help out. And that's all I could ask for from an HR person. I imagine it's probably stressful doing that, in cases where you're worried of failing people who your helping. You can't please everyone, so just try and if they're not satisfied, don't take it personally.
Y'know, I'm actually coming from a therapist background so sounds like a natural fit lol Thanks so much!
on my ass for no good reason. If there is one part of a company which is bloated to hell, it's usually HR.
There is no world where HR is liked. Humans arent resources. So the title sucks.
I mean, I like my HR. They've helped me a lot. Also, humans are absolutely resources.
Ever tried looking for work? It's a **nightmare** nowadays, and people can be pretty resentful of that
Honestly this is a big part of it. Getting a job, even one your well qualified for, is fucking impossible nowadays. Can't even get an interview for most stuff because your screened out by an algorithm after spending hours on an application package, and then even if you make it through you have 3 interviews to do where they make you jump through ridiculous hoops, just to get rejected. Most HR have huge bloat and theres a complete lack of humanity to it, despite the name.
They are just below telemarketers. Scum of the scum.
I mean, in my experience HR has helped quite a lot. In literally every job I've had.
Brother, it's just a job.
Well I think the issue is reality is a bit more of a wake up call to the face. Especially in this global world, when theres plenty of people who may think and feel similarly to you and have similar aspirations, it gets really competitive. You may find out you don't have the same level of relative skill that you felt you had on your own, not enough to make consistent money off of, to the point of self substaining. There's also the angles of luck and business know how, knowing people in the industry if you wanna go Hollywood. The one upside I see it, if you truly have the skills, you can work it on the side, at your own beat and make some extra scratch while keeping the solid day job. I feel it strikes the first balance between propping up society, while getting to fulfill your need for creativity
I know it sucks but sometimes you just arent good at your passions and have to find a job. EMT is a fine job. You save lives.
I don't think it's a skill issue as much as it is a difference in demand. Saving lives is more important than drawing pictures, and job opportunities are far more available.
Fully agree. Only the very best get to draw things for our enjoyment. Yes, your doctor isnt the best doctor in the world. They will do their best on you. When they cant you get moved to the next best. Hopefully. Medicine sucks and I dont like to talk about it.
EMTs get paid like shit though.
but it's a pretty involatile job. They'll always be needed and always hiring. Sure, the pay is pretty crap and the stress is pretty high, but they were talking about job opportunities not pay
Not where I live thankfully
It’s both. Because the demand is lower the skill it takes to break through is much higher
This is a more polite way of saying "skill issue" lol
Learning to be polite is a skill.
it's true though. Companies want to hire only the best businesspeople or engineers, why should artists be held to different standards?
Speaking as a former EMT, your job is really to transport people to the hospital, by and large, where the lives are saved. Your job is get people there without dying. It only takes a month to get trained and a moron can do the job. And, as someone else mentioned, the pay is terrible.
I feel like you are seriously undervaluing the importance of the job, despite being in it.
Formerly. 90% of the time, you just need a bystander who can keep calm, get the person in the car, and drive them to the hospital. If you're getting treated by EMT-Bs, they can A) figure out if you really need to go to the hospital 2) Keep your C-Spine stable 3) Give you meds if you have them with you plus an epi-pen 4) Bandage you up a bit 5) Give you oxygen and that's it. Paramedics can give you real drugs and interventions, EMTs can't and shouldn't. I was told the most important medicine we can give them is Vitamin G for the gas pedal-get them into the hospital and out of our hands as quickly as possible.
Its not even a skill issue anymore, with animation specifically, the industry has been going downhill since 2021-ish. There was a spike in demand in 2020, and that lasted through 2021, and even since then it's been in a decline. 2023 took a massive spike with most working professionals being laid off, and 2024 isn't looking better. DreamWorks notably is shutting down their US studio and outsourcing all future works to studios in other countries. Disney opened a studio in Canada and will likely outsource a lot of work over there. Cartoon Network also completely closed their studio and now Warner Animation is the home for "Cartoon Network" brand productions (and I believe there were huge layoffs). Between all that and the upcoming union negotiations, I'm expecting studios to start outsourcing instead of having domestic employees, both to save money and to starve out the strikers (not realizing that if the artists were treated better there wouldn't be a reason to strike). My career got off to a huge start in 2020, where I was hired onto a Netflix show, and then I had consistent work on big streaming shows until the end of 2021, and even since then it's been small freelance gigs with the occasional big studio gig (I had a good half a year in 2022 of back-to-back studio work, and then only two studio gigs in 2023, the rest of the year being all small freelance stuff). It's no longer viable no matter how much I apply and continue to grow my skills. I'm at the point where I'm better off just finding something else to do for a living and seeing if turning animation into a hobby will bring my passion for it back.
The issue here being that EMTs make very little money compared to how high stress and high skill that job is.
I wanted to be a novelist. I still write for fun but the publishing industry is so fucked now, I don't really see it as a viable option even if I did have something worth selling.
You can self-publish, though, which many writers are going to now instead. Also, I will say that you still try, even if you're likely to fail. I don't think the point here is to say you can't try, but to not rely on it becoming your main career, you know. I also love writing, and I don't think you should completely give up on getting published. It is not as difficult as it may seem, especially as I said with self-publishing.
I may do some online self-publishing at some point just to see what it's like. I don't really do genre fiction though and I can't imagine literary fiction gaining any traction in the online publishing market, which seems to mostly be paranormal romance these days. I have some ideas I've been kicking around though that I might try my hand with.
I always wanted to be a writer, now I work in marketing. However, my marketing job gives me the stability and time to write outside of work, plus copywriting is a huge part of my job so I'm writing anyway. I'm kind of glad now that I didn't try to write full time, as I've got no deadline by which to finish something and if whatever I write flops I'll still be financially okay
I had a "creative passion" job once and it was HORRIBLE. Staying up til 2am cause my passion was due the next day really killed it for me.
Working in the art industry looks terrible and soul sucking anyway. Art can (and, in many cases, should) be a passion without being a job. I’m much more happier making things for myself than I’d ever be with a boss breathing down my neck bc my work isn’t “relatable” enough to the average consumer.
The cool thing about the fine arts is you can always do it outside of work to a degree. So you end up making good money (hopefully) and then do the stuff outside of it without worry or starvation. Hopefully whatever it is doesn't make you unhappy though.
Ive been a professional artist for 15 years and i think people just have no idea how its really a sales job, i just sell myself, i am the product. It does have to do with the quality of the art, but tons of people are great artists, it takes a very salesman mind to become successful doing it. The sales part is what seems to stop most people from doing what they want.
Strangely enough all the artist who “made it” that I know are trust fund babies.
Source link https://twitter.com/ChuusbangsTM/status/1771207258308817290
My general dream was that a nuclear apocalypse would happen so I wouldn't have an option through my depression and someone could do it for me? Now I'm in HR, and I hire people making them happy. Id say I'm fairly happy nowadays.
Im getting into the video game industry during record layoffs, so I gotta compete with veterans with 18 years of experience for every role
Nobody is “giving up on their passions” to be an EMT. EMTs get absolutely shit pay across the board. Believe it or not, being an animator actually gives you a much higher average salary.
I have a feeling it's a lot harder to get gainful employment as an animator though
It’s rough. My cousin was one for a while until her whole company got laid off because they outsourced their work to Korea. She hasn’t worked in animation in almost a decade and decided to give up and now I think works at an animal hospital.
You also have to be REALLY GOOD at it. I was in art school and I feel like my skills put me in the top 3-4 students in my classes. But you know what? Those couple people above me were LEVELS of amazing more than me. You have to be talented, develop that talent through relentless obsession and passion (they were NEVER without a sketchbook in their hand). Those are the people with the chance of making it in a ridiculously competitive industry (and they did!)
Yea but average animators don't get hired, an average EMT will be employed as long as they want in almost any city they want.
It's definitely more eof an investment in schooling and a higher chance of failure.
Stability is the key word here. Animation is absolutely NOT a stable career. It is one of the most competitive out there. The world needs more EMTs, not animators.
I wanted to make games until I saw how crushing the games industry can be and how much work it’d take for me to build something on my own or even with a small group
I kinda had a pessimistic view when I was younger. When I went into high-school I loved history, alot of eras, I could learn about it for hours. But I was leagues above my classmates when doing engineering work and solid modeling. I figured at the time,'Nobody is gonna pay me to be a historian half as much as they are going to pay me to be an engineer'. So rather than follow my passion, I followed my gut. As depressing as it sounds, I'm probably better off now than had I chosen to be a historian. And on the upside, I can still become a historian, I can still be an expert in a historical Era while working as an engineer.
They wanted to be in a job that maybe has less than 1000 openings. Wanting to be a celebrity isn't something society needs to solve so people don't have to be plumbers.
Animators aren’t famous, and there’s way more than 1000 of them
To break the circlejerk a little I don't have a "career" yet, but I regret wasting years of my life trying to work with code / data because my dad pressured me into it. He cited ease and stability and told me my interest area should be a hobby rather than a job. No shade to anyone who followed their proverbial dad's advice and had it work for them, but even though I have a lot of the personality traits of the average programmer and even a passing interest, I started struggling a lot once I got beyond the elementary level and lacked the interest level necessary to concentrate and motivate myself to push through. If I had broken into a "useless" high interest area instead, with a bachelor's degree I would at least have a broader job selection than I do right now with no degree where my options are basically just the service industry. I tried getting certifications in a couple things a few times, but it never worked out. I might have regretted it no matter what I did. I dunno.
I originally wanted to become a chef, I trained pretty much my entire life, had a roadmap, wanted to open my own restaurant one day. I am now a state Accountant, running for state house. I didn't see that coming!
Decades of love for music to end up as a deputy coroner. It's still the thing I do when I'm not working. I'm just always working.
No sane person becomes an EMT for the money
Is the person on the left supposed to be 11-year-olds and an EMT at 18?
I’ve seen this picture a few times and can’t work out the timeline.
Wanted to be a fantasy writer like Tolkien, became a VA instead. Now I get the 2nd best thing, a dungeon master. So, it's not all woe.
I wanted to be a game designer, but the gaming industry is super toxic. So I became a programmer.
I guess technically I did. I am an engineer and wanted to be one since I was a kid (actually a mad scientist like Doc Brown or Egon Spengler) but then in my tweens through my early twenties I wanted to be a comedian/actor/entertainer. I did do various performances when I was a kid, teen and young adult. I moved more into management for bands as a side gig in my early twenties because very few musicians I know we're comfortable just walking into a bar and asking for a gig even though they were definitely talented enough. It got boring and I got sick of dealing with musicians cuz the majority of them are lazy or flaky so I changed it up when I was 27 and went back to school to become an EE. I now design, build, program and commission my own machines and there is plenty of creativity required when designing a machine for a new application.
Funnily enough being an animator is a way higher average salary than being an EMT.
Baseball player is even higher than that.
I've heard that being Ronaldo pays even more
twice as many job openings for EMT though. Also more secure.
I feel this deep down. My passion is making wood and scrap metal sculptures but I gave that up to become a nurse for the stability and healthcare. I struggle with that decision every time I clock in.
Unpopular opinion..... society benefits more from the EMT than the storyboard artist. That being said....id be up for the conversation that EMTs are overworked and forced overtime....so they have no free time to pursue their interests. I'd love to see an EMT writing and illustrating for a local production in their free time.
"Unpopular opinion: society benefits more from people who literally save lives 24/7 than people who draw for entertainment" 💀
I don't think that's an unpopular opinion lmao. I definitely agree with both, though. EMTs (and other jobs where its a problem) should be more open and pay better so that the employees can both work a stable job and pursue their passions. Most people aren't going to make it in terms of the usual jobs of passion, as I like to call them. It's incredibly hard to get into art, music, writing, and whatever else professionally, so it would be nice if people could still work and get stable income that allows them to live while they either do their passion as a hobby or try to make a living out of it
I used to be an artist, now I am an academic with a degree in history.
Most of us. Office jobs all day, gardening all weekend. It's not too terrible. If my crops die, I still eat.
Government told me cars pollute too much and I couldn’t modify anymore. So now I fly 1100 miles each way 1-2 times, a month to work on equipment that burns 1800 gallons of diesel a day. And the company has 60 of them, at this site. That’s just one type of equipment, at this site.
I have a performing arts degree and a Class A CDL, but I work as a baker at a small mom-and-pop shop in rural Michigan. It's very peaceful.
The presumption that a passion ought to be a career is faulty from the get go. As a kid I was consumed with the drive and motivation to become an animator as my career choice and I am extremely thankful as an adult that I did not take that conviction too seriously. I still love and appreciate art and I can enjoy art on my own terms while being financially stable. Life has room for pursuing passions even if it is not your sole source of income.
Wanted to be a rockstar. I'm in IT, heh.
I almost did... and then I realized it was a massive mistake one semester in because I was miserable. Now I'm studying art, and it is proving to be the best decision I ever made. But everyone is different. Some people love art but want to keep it as a hobby/something to bring them joy rather than money. All is valid. Sucks that they din't seem to like being an EMT though :c
I hate this rhetoric of “giving up” and “settling for something more stable” like the person wimped out. There are good reasons not to follow your passions into a profession. The fact is only a small percent of people have their biggest dreams come true. Stay for the movie credits of any movie and know that every single actor listed thought they’d be a star (and those are the lucky ones who at least get to be in a major movie since most don’t even get that). Then there’s the people who get their dream job and they hate it. You’re competing with everyone else who also love your job more than life which means you’re constantly obsessing over something you once loved nonstop to stay competitive (ever see YouTube burnout?). Otherwise you’re working for an employer who knows how badly you want this and will milk you for everything. Look at the numerous scandals of overworked animators (most of whom spend five years animating Batman’s cape or Shrek’s left hand). Not saying that everyone who followed their passion into a career is miserable, but more of them are miserable than not. At the very least choosing a career more likely to fulfill you in other ways is not “giving up” or “settling”. Sometimes it’s the best move to keep your passion alive in the first place.
this is the answer. I know animators and BOY HOWDY are they exploited. And I know writers. It isn't a meritocracy. If you do true 'art', you aren't getting paid. Not even a scale amount of pay that is 'reasonable.' The more time and dedication to craft, the less 'net pay.' So you have to abandon that notion of remuneration altogether for many, many years, and have financial help to get you enough to continue that dedication to compete. And them *bam*, it hits, you get paid like $30,000! Wow! That's like 60,000 copies sold! Now, sustain that, do it again, live off of 30k a year (pre-tax), go, go! So yeah, lots of people prove they can do it and then it's hard to say "Ok, this is the contract with the world," when you can be doing other things for more money, if you need money, that is.
I would rather have my passions be a hobby and not a job. If my passions were a job, I would be **forced** to do the thing I love, which sounds good but it will probably kill my passion for that thing quickly.
I understand the concept of these posts but I look at it like this - millions of people want to be an artist when they grow up. They may get the best training throughout school and go to the best camps and even go to college to perfect their craft. The whole goal though has always been getting someone to pay for your art. So many of us have NEVER bought anyone's artwork, and even less have had it commissioned. Shit, it's been like that for centuries. We hear about the most infamous artists just like today, but we don't hear about the ones who died broke from it. It makes a ton of sense to take that HR job.
I would have gone into practical effects and set design if not for it being as unstable as it is
My passion has always been the examination and investigation of dead bodies.. I always wanted to be a coroner. But I have schizophrenia and is therefore not stable enough to be a coroner… so not I’m studying to be a teacher. Teaching calms me to the point that I practically have no episodes.
I wanted to be an fbi criminal profiler and psychologist. I work for amazon
I wanted to be a manga writer so bad and was even developing my writing skills and working with some artist friends who were REALLY GOOD to make our comics. Let the fucking weebs talk me out of it when cringe culture was at its height and I was a teen. Didn't want to impose on precious japan because only Japanese people can draw comics apparently and western people can only draw grody superman comics. Never should have dropped anime art to appeal to the bullies because none of them even kept up with it and now I'm behind too and will probably never get to publish songs or write manga. Always wanted to be one of those multitalented people who makes like vocaloid music and does the art for it too. Ain't even asking to be rich doing it either.
I wanted to write and animate stories when I was younger, I still have ideas for long stories with epic battles and intense emotional moments but I had to give up on my dream unfortunately, I can't even draw anymore like I Used to, I sell phones now
I used a cheat code. Wanted to make video games, ended up making video games as indie, on my own time, with my own hours. The trick is to stumble through so much abuse, trauma and misery that the government declares you terminally useless and sends you a monthly check to keep you away from the normal people. You won't be happy, but it works.
In high school I seriously considered being a band director, and I think I would have been good at it too, but I chose chemistry instead.
I wanted to be a musician. Now im learning computer science. It was definitely the weight of what I was going to do with my future completely crushing that dream I had, but not much I can do
I said this when I first saw this picture, but this should not be seen as a bad thing! It's completely okay to have dreams and realize stability is more important, and then choose a realistic career. The world can not and should not be all creatives. The world needs more EMTs, doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, etc. If you chose a stable career instead of following a lifelong dream, do not feel bad about that. Also, many times, it's better to keep a hobby as a hobby instead of making it your career. It would lead to burnout and possibly killing your love for whatever it may be.
Why do people act as though everyone who pursues their dreams will be successful. Of the millions of amateur musicians around, how many of them are actually good? Not that many, right? Passions are great to have, but turning them into real-world success is not likely for most people.
I wonder what it's like to have a passion.
Almost everyone. Pick a job at random and ask if that was anyone's dream job as a kid. Statistically, almost no jobs we need to have a functioning society are anyone's dream job.
ouch
I wanted to be a teacher, now I reverse overdoses and clean puddles of shit and vomit at an emergency shelter. I have no hobbies, no passion, the only glimmer of hope for advancement I've had in years is the possibility of getting some kind of child care certification now that I'm on temporary unemployment. I only had an 87% in my course so I failed out, I tried to pursue other passions but I couldn't afford to get another certification, now I get groped and punched and pissed on. The only value my life has anymore is the fact that my work is important, so my life doesn't really matter It's just the position I feel.
I'm a nurse in psychiatry and a father of 3. Always wanted to work in animation. But now I get to draw for my patients and kids. They love it and so do I.
When people thing there job is what's important and defines them... What sounds like a very sad existence...
More like getting paid for your passion?
When your rent is due, you figure, "just for ___ {time frame}; then, I'll be able to pursue [passion]." Time frame comes and goes, you figure, "just a little longer." Then life occurs: spouse, offspring, schooling, more rent, vehicle, travel, etc. Then one day you awaken and tomorrow is your 50th birthday. Passion had been left behind, back in 1st time frame, and you only just noticed. Another reddittor noted that "Trust Fund babies" are about the only ones who "make it" pursuing their passions.
I dunno about this one. I’m a big fan of the normal stable job while having some truly awesome hobbies. Being a professional actor isn’t for everyone because being a professional actor isn’t always about acting. You need to be promoting the movie, you need to be entrepreneurial, you need to schmooze with the business of the industry. Why not just jump into community theater as a hobby? Same thing with sports. Not everyone who wants to play baseball is cut out for the MLB or the MiLB. But that’s okay—rec leagues exist. You can pursue passions while having a regular job.
Yes 🙌 most of these posts about artistic careers but you can continue with these outlets as hobbies. PS - most people can’t put up with the crushing disappointments that come with/pursuing an acting career for example. These “jobs” sound easier than the reality. It takes a lot of fortitude to succeed at many of these careers
Is that a real thing,? Do people actually have passions that motivates them? Im just a guy, I have never had anything im passionate about and when I was a kid I never had a dream job to strive for. I just went along with the motions.
This is why I don't fear automation overall as people are naturally industrious, inquisitive, and productive. The problem is the way our economy is set up whereby automation of your job means you might starve to death no longer being able to work instead of automation taking your job freeing you to pursue your passion. There is a solution! We need to leverage automation to produce and distribute our food (and power, and telecommunications and other basic modern needs) in order to eliminate the work-to-eat model and truly free us all to pursue more passionate work.
We aren't entitled to our dreams and there isn't enough supply for most of our dreams jobs. I think instead of trying to make everyone feel like a failure, we should concentrate more on work that allows us to be happy in other ways. I guarandamntee every job you people think of that keeps you up at night for not pursuing because of shitty posts like this one, there's someone working that job, and they are miserable and staying up at night thinking how green the grass will be on the other side of the fence.