Passion vs Money

I read a statistic the other day that 75% of college students change their major in college at least once and on average students change their major 3-4 times. I know people who changed their major 7 or 8 times.
I've never been able to relate to that. I was twelve or so when I decided I wanted to pursue programming because I loved doing it. I'm not even sure I ever had a talent for it but it was what I wanted to pursue. When I was sixteen and filling out college applications I declared my major as "Computer Science" on every application and didn't doubt my decision.

I read this blog post today. The author talks about how many times she changed her major. That's not really what stuck out to me though. What stuck out was how she recommends choosing a career that would give you the best possible lifestyle. I bristled up reading this. I know this author isn't writing from a Christian perspective so I can understand a basic difference in outlooks. If I weren't a christian I'd probably hold the same viewpoint. Her viewpoint does go against another common viewpoint of "Do what you love". I tend to disagree with both viewpoints.

The "Do what you love" viewpoint holds some water for me because if you're miserable at work it's going to impact other aspects of your life. If you're at a job that you hate it might not be a bad idea to look for something else. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage that. However, I don't think "Am I happy here?" is the right question to ask.

The viewpoint of picking a career that will net you the most cash is the option that appeals the most to a personal finance lover like myself. I'm not going to lie... watching the numbers in my bank account increase is indubitably something that I enjoy. Is it wrong to pursue a career because it's a good paying one? I don't think so but I also don't think that "Which job pays the most?" is the right question to ask either.

What about a balance between the two? "What job would I enjoy doing that also pays a reasonable amount?". Once again, I'm not sure in and of itself that this is a bad question. In fact, I think it is one that most people should ask themselves sooner rather than later, particularly the guys. And they need to be realistic about it. The most important question in my eyes isn't about WHICH career but instead "How am I going to serve God in whatever career I pursue?". All career paths short of something immoral or illegal can be done while serving God. I think if more people stopped asking "What do I want to do?" and started asking "What can I do to serve God right here and right now and how can I make my life something of worth?" we'd see a huge impact in the world as we know it. If we spent more time focusing on how to serve God and less on what we do or don't enjoy about our job I think we'd all be better off. And maybe, just maybe, the choice to make a career shift isn't really about getting a special signal from God. Maybe it's about making a wise decision and always continuing to ask "How am I going to serve God NOW?".

While people still need to make decisions about what to do with their lives I think the questions relating to those decisions should be minor in comparison to the bigger question of how they can serve God. Does God really care whether you're a pilot or a teacher as long as you're serving Him to your fullest? No, I don't really think He does.

One side note that I'll throw out there. I do think that there are some careers that are better left alone if they require excessive amounts of time away from family. A Dad who has to work 70 hours a week is going to be slacking off on the home front and I DO think that God cares about that. There are problem other considerations like that to think about.

(Just FYI, I know I haven't addressed my career and how I ended up where I am in this post. I have more thoughts on my career and why I am where I am so I think I'll save that for another day.)