A Career Based On Passion Is Risky. Here Is Why.

When a young aspirant hears that a career based on passion is risky, it is quite natural to disregard it as being too pessimistic. I get it. But when I say this, it comes from my experience. Furthermore, my analysis is based on a pattern that stretches across multiple industries. So, this argument applies to multiple fields.

I wish I had someone share this perspective with me when I was younger. I don’t know if it would have changed my career choices specifically. But it would have certainly saved me a lot of time. So, by sharing my perspectives and analysis in this essay, I am sharing what I now wish I had when I was younger. Let us begin.

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The Allure of a Career Based on Passion

‘Passion’ is a word that we associate with intense enthusiasm. We typically start experiencing this kind of enthusiasm right from our childhood. It starts with play. For some, it is electronics, video games, race cars, and motorbikes. For others, it is the natural hormonal rush associated with helping fellow human beings; something noble.

I remember my personal transition quite clearly. “What if I could pursue a career that is based on my passion?”, I thought. As a teen, this thought was transformational for me. Up until that point, I thought that one had to choose from a bunch of standard professions that are available as one grows up.

Furthermore, I noticed that my enthusiasm was quite infectious; my friends and family cheered me on. All of a sudden, people were sharing ideas and strategies of how I could start a career based on my passion. Don’t get me wrong; I faced my fair share of cynics and pessimists as well. But I just chose to ignore them (talk about a hypocrite!).

On balance, the experience was totally worth it for me. It was a very, very hard journey. But my dream of realising a career based on my passion kept me going when most folks would give up. I did make it in the end though! It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Yet, things did not turn out quite as I expected them to be.

With hindsight, I could see the signs of the core issue all along. Yet, I chose to ignore them, just like I ignored the sceptics. It was probably the right thing to ignore sceptics, but it was certainly not clever to ignore clear signs of the core issue (which is also the prime focus of this essay). What is this core issue that I talk about? Well, let us find out.

What’s Wrong with a Career Based on Passion?

You often hear phrases that sing to the tune of the following:

“If you pursue a career based on your passion, you don’t have to work a single day! You would tap dance to your job everyday.”

This ideal does seem appealing; I would even argue that it is certainly possible to pursue such a career path. However, there are more traps that are disguised as this dream than you or I could imagine.

When I was still a teen, a mate of mine decided that he would double down on his passion of video games. Since he was not proficient in technical programming yet, he chose to take the role of a video game tester for a well-known sports video game manufacturer (it’s in the game).

When I first heard about this, I was elated. I could hardly control my excitement when I asked him the following:

“Wait! You get paid for playing video games all day?!”

His reply, however, was not very enthusiastic:

“It’s not like you think man. You play the same buggy levels all day, and it beats the passion out of you. I don’t enjoy playing video games anymore. And the pay is dirt. Don’t be like me. Focus on your technical knowledge.”

I felt sad for him. But I did listen to him though. I thought if I focussed on improving my technical knowledge in my passion field, I could eventually pursue a career path that is rewarding not only technically but also financially. Little did I know that I had completely missed/ignored the core issue here.

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The Core Issue with Passion-Driven Fields

When I chose to focus on my technical knowledge, this is what I was thinking:

My video game testing mate chose the right field, but the wrong job. Had he chosen a technical position, it would have turned out better. So, let me marry my passion with strong technical abilities. That’s the winning combination.

As it turns out, that was not the winning combination. I won’t beat around the bush any longer. The core issue with passion-driven fields is supply and demand economics. I foolishly assumed that a technical position in the video game industry would fare better.

In hindsight, I should have actually just researched how programmers in the field fare. The truth is that video game development is one of the most demanding positions in the software engineering field. This means that video game developers are highly skilled technically speaking (check out Quake III’s inverse square root algorithm if you’re interested).

Yet, they are paid poorly (on average) compared to the rest of the software development industry. What’s worse, the working conditions there are (on average) toxic and abusive as well. How can this be? How can other software firms that employ arguably lesser skilled folks pay them better and treat them better?

Well, the answer lies in the supply and demand numbers. The number of young and driven people applying for video game development positions is much, much higher as compared to the development positions in System Analysis and Program Development. This is why the “boring” software firms need to treat their employees better and pay them better.

The Rabbit Hole Goes Deeper

The video games industry can get away with poor pay and abusive working conditions because if one or two of the employees get burned out, there’s always an endless supply of youngsters who march forth with their dreamy eyes.

One could argue that video games industry is a biased example because of all the other negative associations the industry has with health and addiction. Fine, let us move away from that industry.

What if you have a passion for developing race cars? Well, it’s the same story; yours truly has personal experience to back this up. What if you have a burning desire to contribute to humanity’s rocket missions to Mars? Well, your friendly Rocket manufacturer is counting on your passion to fulfil humanity’s dreams. Just don’t expect the best of pays or the best of working conditions.

I could go on and on. But by now, you get my point. Are there counter-examples to this pattern? Yes! Are there exceptional companies that don’t prey on passionate employees? Sure! If you look hard enough, you’ll find them. If you do, good for you! But why play a rigged game when you have the option to choose a game with higher chances of success?

Let’s now go back to the video games industry. If a game developer feels that she has had enough with the industry, she might as well apply for a job in some other industry, right? Well, there are challenges there as well.

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The Challenges with Changing Careers

By the time our game developer figures out that her current field is not good for her health, she would have put in a few years into this career path. When she chooses to apply to say, the music streaming industry, she would be classified by the recruiters as a “career changer”.

Her application would compete with those from other applicants who have taken the conventional path in that field. Such applicants would bring in systemic advantages such as more knowledge/experience with web development tools, forest web services, etc.

If our game developer wishes, she might choose to apply for a lower tiered job (like a beginner’s position) in the music streaming field. Chances are that she would still be paid more than her current position. However, the recruiters are likely classify her application as being “over-qualified” for that position.

So either way, changing careers becomes a challenging task. And we have not even gone into issues with stigmatic judgement, etc. It is certainly possible to change careers if you have figured out that the game in your current industry is rigged. But you have to come to terms with these challenges first and overcome them.

A Career Based on Passion is Risky. So, What is the Solution?

Until this point, I have been laying out the case for why it is better to avoid career paths in passion-driven fields. But just saying that isn’t going to solve the problem. So, why don’t we discuss some solutions to this problem as well?

Firstly, search for arbitrage opportunities. Look for fields that use your passion and skills, but don’t attract people with these passions and skills explicitly, thereby not suffering from the supply and demand skew we talked about earlier. If you look hard enough, you will find some matches.

Secondly, try dabbling into passion projects on the side. The extreme position here is to try and build something on your own full time. Since yours truly has some experience doing this as well, I’d say this is a very challenging task with its own risks (let’s save that discussion for another day).

Finally, try to combine your passion with opportunity (emphasis on opportunity). Thinking abstractly helps solve this problem. I was quite surprised when I first learned that by employing the same problem solving skills in an entirely different field, the same person could earn much more and gain more recognition too.

You need not sacrifice your passion to negate the risks. Ask the right questions to seek the right answers!

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References: Guardian and Levels.

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Further reading that might interest you:

• Learning Better Using Tacit Knowledge.
• Entrepreneurs Are The New Economists. Here’s Why.
• 3 Reasons Why Deep Space Travel Is Really Challenging

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