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Passionless Pre-Professionals
Published last year, mid-April under Personal
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In two weeks I’ll be graduating college—leaving academia after 16+ years in the system. For the first time in my life, there will be no more classes, professors, tests, or grades—no artificial benchmarks of success. If I fail, I’ll get back up and try again; if I succeed, I’ll receive the real benefits of my success, not just the letter “A” on a sheet of paper.
To me, this is extremely liberating. But I’ve noticed others in my graduating class, friends included, who look to the “real world” with trepidation. A few don’t yet know what they want to do with their lives. That’s okay—we’re still young.
But many more know exactly what their career will be, yet have absolutely no passion for what they’re about to pursue. For these passionless pre-professionals, college was simply an economics equation to be optimized: earn the best possible grades in order to get the highest paying job. But hey—most of these people will make great money in careers like investment banking. Mission accomplished, right?
Maybe. But…
What if you pursued the thing that interests you the most…as your career?
What if work could be a source of happiness?
What if you could feel like your work is the very reason you exist?
Too many of my peers are discarding, or never discover, their passion in life. They’re playing the academic game: trying to optimize their outcome by earning good grades. It doesn’t matter if your job interests you—just do it well and make a lot of money.
Unfortunately, many educational institutions encourage this behavior by treating grades as incentives. As early as elementary school, my parents incentivized good grades by rewarding me with allowances and video games when I brought home A’s. When I reached high school the incentive for maintaining a high GPA changed—now the goal was to get into a good college. But after I got into that great school, I started to fall off the track. Suddenly it was junior year and I found myself pursuing a major I hated. I stopped caring, stopped going to classes—I didn’t want to play the academic game anymore.
I took a step back from the rat race and thought about what makes me tick. What I found was simple: I enjoy creating. Whether through design, programming, or writing, I find fulfillment in bringing new objects into the world. To that end, I started creating Web applications on the side, began writing about design, and sought out freelance clients that gave me more creative freedom.
I called these “side projects”. But in reality, school was the side project.
When I started looking for a job last year, my GPA was in the toilet. But I had a portfolio filled with self-started design projects, a blog with my ideas, and an enthusiasm for the subject of design. I had no problem getting great job offers despite my bad grades.
You’re the only person who decides how you’re going to spend your life, so invest the time to discover your passion. Don’t accept the path laid out before you by others—just figure out what you enjoy doing and do it.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life”
—Steve Jobs
Photo by sgis under Creative Commons
Shout into the Forest
You raise some really good points. Thanks for writing such an insightful post.
Amen brother.
For me university was kind of boring. A friend of mine and me started our own little enterprise while we were still at university, earned some money and had a lot of fun. We couldn’t wait to finish university and launch into _real_ life – while other friends were more or less afraid of the life after.
My grades weren’t so brilliant. But it didn’t matter, because my new employee valued my working experience higher. And I am in a job which pays me well, and I have fun working in.
Brilliant bullseye statement. I feel like constantly de-prioritizing schoolwork to pursue my “side projects.” Except at the deadline, the schoolwork is complete and my tangential life is unchanged. You’re a hero for breaking the cycle.
I couldn’t agree more. The majority of what I know came from the extra time I took outside of class to pursue my own interests. I knew that if I only read and studied what the professor told me then I would be no smarter than anyone else in the classroom since we were all receiving the exact same assignments.
The most beneficial part of college for me was having the time to research things like web design and do freelance on the side. Had I jumped into a full-time job right out of college, I doubt I would have had that extra time or the resources that school can offer. The key here is you need to be willing to go find information on your own and not only do what you’re told. It’s a common misunderstanding that professors are supposed to teach you everything but really they can only point you in the right direction and from there you need to investigate further on your own. The fun part, as you mentioned, is you can choose to research anything on your own time so why not find something you enjoy.
I graduated last May and have loved my work ever since. It is a much more satisfying feeling to be out in the “real world” and accomplishing greater feats than earning letter grades. Good luck to you and it sounds like you’re on the right track.
Academia was pretty much the same for me, I spend a year away at college, found the setting distasteful and distracting and then moved back home, got a job, and went to school at night. Now I’m not $60 grand in debt from student loans and I have a great job because when I graduated at the same time as my peers I had more career experience under my belt.
But, if I can offer one piece of advice, never forget your portfolio. I’ve left my drag for four years now and I’m feeling a little stuck. After working in the industry for just a few years, college is nothing more than a piece of paper. Experience is king and if you have nothing to show for your experience you’re doing yourself a serious injustice. Check out my link for one of my own recent posts on this exact topic.
Im printing this up and sticking it above my desk.
excellent post
This is a great post. Your example is very inspiring for me as i feel in the same situation, but in the very beginning. What you said about the sidejob being school is brilliant. ^^
As a relatively recent college graduate (2 years ago), I totally agree with what you said. I think if I were to go back and do it differently, I would have gone to a different college. While I did end up doing something I absolutely love, I went a round-about way of doing it.
It is sad that the whole mentality of the college process is just get good grades in high school, so you can get into a good college, get good grades in college, so you can get a good job and make a lot of money.
I wish they would push people more towards doing what will make them happy. Money isn’t everything, happiness is everything.
That’s an awesome post and really echoes some of the things I’ve been feeling recently. I’ve always done well in school and that seemed to pigeonhole me into one of three or so high-paying careers. _Oh, you’re good at science, guess you’re going to be a doctor then…_
But (as you said), what if that doesn’t really satisfy me? I’m still not quite sure what I want to do, but I feel like I’ve made some progress because I’m at asking myself that question now.
Well said Rob. Congratulations on graduation! Looking forward to seeing what more you come up with now that you’re no longer burdened with that pesky school side project.
I know exactly what you’re writing. School was a side project since getting my first PC more than 10 years ago and more so after I peeked into that web design world. It seemed like a necessary evil.
Now in University it’s basically the same thing. I’d really like to have some Degree but there are things I’m much more interested in and that take time to keep up with, too. I was quite enthusiastic in my first year, when everything was new and shiny. Now everything’s quite dull and annoying with exercises which will (probably) never be useful to me.
I only have a year left of my BFA in Interactive media design (at the Art Institute of Atlanta if your curious) and I think you really nailed it on the head with this one. I see to many students that take up jobs they dont like just for the money, and just put on a mediocre portfolio because of it.
Thanks for summarizing some of my own thoughts in this post. I am looking foreward to receive my degree in a few weeks and as you I am realy looking foreward to spread my creativity and passion for the things I do iin a professional environment and getting the immediate benefits.
Good luck and have fun!
One clarification on my comment above: I meant to say high school on the line that says, “Had I jumped into a full-time job right out of college…”
Guess I need to go back to school ;)
Fantastic post, definitely reaffirms some of the thoughts that I’ve had myself, thank you for expressing it so lucidly.
Great post. As you mentioned, it’s unfortunate that our education system puts an emphasis on academic performance rather than educational enlightenment.
They don’t seem to understand that if children are encouraged to develop their own interests, the good grades will take care of themselves. Instead, kids are being force fed a bunch of disjointed information for the sake of a “well-rounded education” in preparation for a standard four-year college system.
Instead of teaching kids how to learn, they’re teaching kids what the SAT/College Board thinks is important. In return, society is developing cookie-cutter students that couldn’t give a rat’s ass about doing what they enjoy because their desire to learn has been completely extinguished.
Obviously, this is a sore point for me. I should really just be speaking for myself, but like many of you who have posted before me, it’s a problem that seems to afflict many people in academia. Those of us who have learned this the hard way, and have subsequently taken action to pursue more appropriate careers, are lucky. Those who have been able to do what they’ve enjoyed from the very beginning are luckier still. But the majority of people are stuck doing something they dislike, either by choice or by circumstance, and it’s unfortunate.
Hear hear! My graduation date looms too, and I couldn’t have written something better.
I realized soon after I got to college that I wasn’t interested in academia and have been itching to get out for the last year. I still feel some trepidation about leaving, though — you really don’t get a safe haven like college at any other time.
Congrats on your accomplishments and best wishes to what lies ahead for you!
Hittin the sweet spot there. I have felt the same way about school. The beginnings of my college years I had this obscured idea that there was going to be this huge freedom of loving to learn and exploring…nope. You have to wonder if passion can be taught or if it’s acquired. I hope it’s both. I feel as though I lose it sometimes.
I had ONE teacher during my whole high school career that said, “Gee, you’re good at writing! You should go to school for it!” And I did, a bit. Got a B in English 101. Haha.
But I kept writing, and that turned into blogging. And now I’ve been doing that since 2000 or so, and today I put money in my bank account from various writing / blogging gigs. It’s a passion, and now my “work” doesn’t feel so much like work these days.
To anyone who appreciated this article as much as I did: I highly recommend the book “The Twenty Something Manifesto”. A large part of the book is devoted to this topic, but it also touches on relationships and other important facets of a 20something’s life. The overarching message is very similar to this post- figure out what makes you tick- figure out what makes you happy- and GO FOR IT! Stop worrying about what anyone else but you wants. It has changed my life, and I’m glad other people our age are spreading the word about finding your passion. That’s what will make our generation great.
REAL TALK
I read all your articles and i usually don’t see a reason to comment, but this one makes me feel like i have to leave a comment and say: Good one, Rob! :) So i did.
Yes, I agree with your main thought. I felt the same way right before I graduated from college. And I can tell you, it’s not the best feeling in te world. :|
I know there was a time freshman year where you wanted to be a patent attorney. Imagine you still wanted to do it, but didn’t follow “the path laid out by others” of getting good grades and acing the LSATS.
I agree it’s more important to enjoy what you do than make lots of money. However, you were fortunate in that you find your calling in an industry where your side projects could be used to get you a job. You proved you were a great designer and in the world of web design that’s more important than grades. If you had found your passion was becoming a lawyer, researcher, doctor, or banker then getting your foot in the door without grades would have been much harder.
Not saying I disagree with you, just that this advice is dangerous for a lot of people. I’m sure there are students who want to become doctors for the right reason, but hate school. If they don’t force themselves to stay in the rat race they’ll never get the job they truly want.
I will be graduating June 8th (we’re on quarters at Ohio State) and I have noticed the same trend with my friends and the people in my classes.
I spent a lot of time in college doing freelance work, learning about web standards, etc. and about 18 months ago started treating school as more of the side project and ended up enjoying the last 18 months of college a lot more – if I forget an assignment or don’t get an A on a test, the world will not end. I am actually excited that school will be over and I will have more time to work on my own projects.
I’ve been trying to tell my friends to do what they love and figure out a way to make money from it, but only a few seem to listen.
The people who think the next A will guarantee them that spot in medical school or get them the best clerkship in law school make me laugh.
I think a few people have misinterpreted what I’m saying. I’m not encouraging students to give up on grades. I’m simply saying: If good grades are your focus, make sure you’re pursuing them for the right reasons. An “A” has no intrinsic value—it’s only as powerful as you and your peers make it.
Adam Finkelstein wrote:
A lot of paths in life require investing a lot of hard work before you can start doing what you really want to do. I have absolutely no beef with someone who suffers through uninteresting courses to get to the pursuit he or she enjoys. If you want to be a doctor because helping others brings you happiness, that’s fantastic. And the hard work you invest in college and grad school will ultimately be worth it.
Jumping off the beaten path and following your passion can be extremely dangerous. But for a lot of people, myself included, it’s the only way to be happy. It’s much more dangerous to risk living a life of mediocrity than to risk being honest with yourself and pursuing your interests.
Thanks Rob.
I’ll be at the same point in the system in a couple of years, but I don’t know what that point will look like. I’m one of those people who likes school and college simply because I enjoy learning, discovering new things and seeing how the world works. Without that, motivation to continue working through exams, exams, and more exams would disappear, and I agree that people with no purpose and drive in something they do not enjoy should look at themselves and think, and be honest with themselves.
I have no goal, no end point in my vision – I am unsure as to what career path I will take. Perhaps now it is time for me to decide what it is my passion in life is – perhaps I could start to make that a reality as soon as tomorrow. For me, learning is something I enjoy, but after that? I don’t yet know.
Thank you for your very insightful and – to me – relevant post.
“No artificial benchmarks of success…”
The corporate world is just as full of these as the academic world. Fortunately, they’re easy to spot. Dealing with them (or not) is the true challenge for folks.
Either dissenters do not want to say anything here, or they are being censored out. I would like to believe it is the first one.. :-)
Following your passion and grades do not have to bear an inverse relationship.
Grades are proxy for doing well what you set out to do at the time, i.e. gaining skills which can be useful such as following simple instructions, working in teams, finishing things on time and understanding that they need to be finished, time planning and organisational skills, social skills etc. Employers – or clients – want to know you will not treat the job the way you did school: as a side project. So unless someone is stellar – as you say you have been – at their main project, their side project (i.e. school) grades are important indicators. Alas too many mediocre people too believe all this but will not be as lucky as you, Rob Goodlatte, when it comes to earning a living.
And if someone told you that there will be nothing similar to grades at work, you will have another surprise coming.
Good luck!
I must say i almost never do this, but here it is: my comment. You made such a good post. I have been running my own company during the whole time of my MBA-studies, which I just today finished.
However, now I am starting career in multinational consulting company. Do I feel happy about it? Dunno, got to just go and see. I loved my experience in web-design business and wouldn’t change it to anything less.
Keep up the good work!
OrbiterDicta Wrote
Nope, no censorship. But I certainly wasn’t expecting this much agreement on such a contentious point.
I agree that passion and grades can align—It happens a lot. I’m saying in my case it didn’t, and I’m advocating that students pursue passion first, grades second. But, if you can take classes that tie into that passion, then by all means you should be making A’s.
But you’re addressing grades from the point of view of an employer—which is fine, but I don’t really care about them. My goal in life isn’t to please a future employer or optimize my résumé. I don’t agree that grades are a proxy for any of the things you mentioned. Good grades demonstrate that you’re good at following directions. The professor tells you to study, so you study. The professor tells you to attend class every day, so you do. Many companies like that obedience from their employees, so the educational system works great for them. But I’m not concerned with the company’s well-being—I’m concerned with my well-being.
You’re worried too much about finding a job. But you should be more concerned about finding happiness. People who are passionate about a subject and work towards becoming an expert at that subject rarely wind up homeless.
People say I’m being idealistic. I disagree—I think my advice is incredibly practical. But the actions I recommend are terrifying to many college students who are content to continue on the rails towards their “future”. But hell, if I had to choose, I’d rather be idealistic than despondent.
My god, how old this all makes me feel! I’m 36 and already feel like one of the grandads in the business I’m in (web design).
I’d like to just offer the perspective of someone for whom school was about 20 years ago. I never saw school as a side project. I truly believed that success at school would lead to success in the ‘real’ world afterwards, and the only measure of success is the grades. The way I was taught, and the way I was brought up, left me with the impression that to get poor grades was tantamount to a catastrophe.
As it turns out I did get good grades, at school, art college and then university. I think I’ve been successful in my professional career, but I honestly don’t think any of it was down to me doing well in my education. When I left education I was up to my eyeballs in good grades, but none of them helped me get where I am now. I’ve got here through a combination of luck & timing, lots of hard work, and finding something I’m truly passionate about. I wish I could go back and have a word with myself 20 years ago and tell them this.
The key is to find something you are passionate about, and which makes you happy and fulfilled. That’s what I’ll be telling my children as they go through their education.
It’s been a long crazy trip, hasn’t it Rob?
it’s sadly telling that there’s so little controversy in the commentary here. Maybe the traditional college environment just isn’t keeping up with the needs and demands of real life.
I knew before I finished high school that the typical classroom environment wasn’t for me. I graduated at 16 and went right to working; I’ve struggled a lot, and I mean a lot, to get to the point of doing what I want and making money at it, and I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of the social experience of college and the benefits of formal education in the process.
What haven’t I missed? The maddeningly slow pace of an education system built to raise the lowest common denominator into mediocrity while instituting needless roadblocks and busy work to slow down the pace of the bright and driven. I haven’t missed the authoritarianism, I haven’t missed the pointless social competition.
I’ve learned what I wanted, when I wanted (and my appetite for knowledge is voracious.) I’ve had time to develop my interests and the freedom to leave a career behind once I knew it wasn’t for me, unburdened by student debt or the fear of wasting years of education. I’ve worked in entirely unrelated fields and met the same kind of people in each: real people with diverse interests and needs, and lifestyles driven by things other than, and not served well by, big paychecks.
Which is more valuable? I don’t know. I wouldn’t take my choices back though.
hey dude, great post — i can only say as a fellow dukie,major kudos to you. i did the same thing as you, sacrificed grades to follow my passion and it was so tough in that environment, but it was by far the best decision i’ve ever made in my life
I agree with the Good Latte. Grades are overrated and often contraindicators of a few things. The smart move is to essentially figure out what minimum grades you’re satisfied with (e.g. 3.0, 3.4, etc) and budget your time such that you achieve those grades. Use the rest of your time, however, to whoop it up.
If the hypothetical equation is 7 hours a week of studying for a 3.7 vs. 20 hours a week of studying for a 4.0, the former is the better option. Spend the remaining 13 hours a week doing the things college coeds do (e.g. the hibbity dibbity) and getting experience at a real job.
Bam.
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Molly
Good read, and mirrors my life choices. Though college was boring at times, so are many aspects of life and running businesses etc that are not all fun either (paid your taxes lately?), so I pretty much considered university my big test for how well i can do in life if i try hard… and thus made myself keep a 4.0.
Now that I’m in my thirties, I can say this life choice has been exciting and I wouldnt trade it for anything, but on the otherhand: I still work 12+ hrs/day (and most weekends), Ive been single most of my adult life, and while Ive had years where I made huge $, I’ve also had years where I literally made nothing. So though I love what I do, I also think the formula is fine for most (other) people. ;)
I’m so happy that you were able to find out what you loved to do and follow up on it with success. I too realized that I love to create. I never really had anyone to push me in the right direction and tell me that I could do whatever I wanted. You know, a vote of confidence. I’m finally starting to realize how to do things…and I’m 33. I guess it’s true what they say, “Better late than never.”
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
– Ecclesiastes 9:10
[...] came across a post by Rob Goodlatte entitled “Passionless Pre-Professionals.” I cannot agree more with his post. Everyone should be passionate about work; it is after [...]
Thank you for such an insightful post. I have a year until I graduate college and after reading this, I feel much better. My GPA is also “in the toilet” and I despise classes/exams/homework in which I merely memorize information for each day. I would much rather be creating, designing, and programming. Your inspiring. Thanks.
this quote is so true: “I called these “side projects”. But in reality, school was the side project.”
What a great post! These are the stories that I love to read about. I have spent many years in the vicious cycle of starting school, stopping school and each time I start back I think I have my degree plans all figured out, well that is until I start back to my first class and realize why I keep quitting school. It is because I pursue studies that I think will be good for me and provide a good living. Unfortunately I never listened to my heart and kept pursuing degrees that made me miserable. I also like to create and that is what makes me truly happy.
For years I kept ignoring my inner voice telling me that I need to forget about the job title, the money, what other people want and just do what makes me happy. Now, at the age of 38, no degree and 14 years deep into the field of telecommunications, my heart, mind and soul have taken over and basically forced me to make a decision. I cannot continue on with this dull line of work. I am so ready to make the move into work that I am passionate about that I just can’t wait to get started back to school.
Thank you so much for being on my side and keeping me focused on a more fulfilling life.