Excitement or anxiety
So you've finally thrown the funky hat up in the air (apparently it's called a mortarboard) and screamed "I'M FINALLY DONE". Or perhaps you're like me and just took the hat off and said shit...what now?
Graduating can be a very nervous time. For the past 4 years we live in a bubble with our friends, largely forsaking the real world in order to find ourselves and develop a sense for what we like and dislike. Now that we're graduating, it feels like society is telling us "fun time is over, now go be an adult and make a contribution".
This seems like a fair expectation...I mean we've been spending other peoples money in order to live, learn and have fun...it's our time to give something back. But what if we don't know what we like yet? What if we haven't found ourselves yet? I certainly don't want to be working 8 hours/day doing something I dislike...and now with the added pressure of this being what I do for the rest of my life!
But I need to make money!
No one can deny money is important. But let's take a step back and briefly look at the role of money, and in doing so - hope to find the answer to why we may like some jobs more than others.
The purpose of money (in this context) is to reward an individual for the invaluable time they spent to make this world a better place. When you clean a toilet as a janitor, you are making life much better for the subsequent people using the bathroom. Similarly when you invent a communication channel for over a billion people to instantly communicate with each other, you are making life much better for the people using that technology. Supply and demand govern how much we want certain things and therefore the money associated with certain jobs, (people surely want Facebook more than they want a clean toilet at a restaurant) so that's why Mark Zuckerberg makes more money than a janitor. It's critical to note that money per se (though the things it can buy may) has absolutely no relation to how interesting a job is to us, only how in demand the job is to society.
The purpose of money (in this context) is to reward an individual for the invaluable time they spent to make this world a better place. When you clean a toilet as a janitor, you are making life much better for the subsequent people using the bathroom. Similarly when you invent a communication channel for over a billion people to instantly communicate with each other, you are making life much better for the people using that technology. Supply and demand govern how much we want certain things and therefore the money associated with certain jobs, (people surely want Facebook more than they want a clean toilet at a restaurant) so that's why Mark Zuckerberg makes more money than a janitor. It's critical to note that money per se (though the things it can buy may) has absolutely no relation to how interesting a job is to us, only how in demand the job is to society.
Don't get me wrong, it is very sensible to pay people relative to how much others want what they create. But money is the unit of exchange for the value we produce, it is not valuable itself. This is why many people in the chase for money find themselves empty on the inside, left with a deep craving to have purpose.
When you help your grandma open the jar, a child cross the road or help anything at all - you undoubtedly feel happy. This is because we feel good for doing things we deem worthwhile and are met with an understanding from others that 'yes indeed, I also think what you are doing is worthwhile'. A salary or money earned is simply our confirmation from society that 'yes indeed, people as a whole think what you are doing is worthwhile'. And you are compensated according to how many people agree. But what about you deeming it worthwhile?! This is the part that's left out...the part that we're suppose to find while in university.
Rushing into a job simply because it pays well is failing to understand that we must deem the job a worthwhile way to spend our time. Allow me to use myself as an example. I recently graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelors of Computer Science. There are fields within CS such as data mining, machine learning, application and web development all of which pay very well...but I am simply not that interested in them. I took a look at my past and noticed teaching was a very common ground that I gravitated towards regardless of the activity. Therefore I'm looking to apply my software skills in education related fields. And this feels very rewarding to me, I understand that I can make more money elsewhere but I simply have no desire to do that work.
Now I was fortunate enough to be in a field with plenty of diverse opportunities to find my interest. More often than not, upon graduating you will have to take a job that's not directly related to what your interested in. That is OK, we live in a world with unimaginable job opportunities in pretty much any field. Just remain open minded towards opportunities ...and more importantly interests. So often we tell ourselves "I won't like that" without ever giving it a try.
