Passion vs. money?

My advice is to follow your heart and do what you enjoy. No matter how much money you earn in a specific field, if your doing something you truly enjoy, I believe you will be more content as a person.

Also, given the fields you identified above, I think you might have misleading perceptions on your ability to have a fulfilling career taking both passion and economics into account.

There is a shortage of engineers, illustration is a growing field, and architects will always be in demand over the long run. That snit to say the medical field may not be lucrative, but the economics in medicine have changed dramatically and it is not necessarily a field where you would earn more in comparison to the others you mentioned. Maybe that was true 20 years ago, but times do change. Even with medicine, it's a field that I would argue requires passion and commitment in order to succeed.

 

Engineering? My family would LOVE you. Half of the people on my mom's side are engineers.

I've expressed interest in both neuroscience and linguistics. I was also interested in graphic design awhile back, but I've mostly given up on the idea. I've almost given up on the neuroscience idea, also.

I'm currently learning half-assing both Japanese and German. I've been learning Japanese on again and off again for about 4 years, and I didn't start learning German until earlier this year. Everything I know about both is self-taught. Neuroscience is a subject that I know very little about. When it comes to neuroscience, I know the basic shit that every high-school idiot knows and little else.

As you can imagine, knowledge in neuroscience pays more than linguistic knowledge. Translators on average don't make very good money. As for interpreters, I don't know how well they are paid, but I assume it's not too much either.

The more the language is needed, the more they pay you (eg. Arabic translators/interpreters are in high demand right now). Also, people who speak extremely popular languages are generally paid less (eg. Spanish speakers are a dime a dozen).

It seems like I'm in the middle with both Japanese and German. German is spoken all across the EU, and German speakers aren't too hard to find, even in the US. Germany is buddies with us, though, so the language is in high demand. Japanese is more complicated (cough*KANJI*cough, and there aren't as many people who speak it, but it's gotten extremely popular recently, so I'm sure the pay will start going down soon (if it hasn't already). Again, Japan is also buddies with us, so Japanese is also in high demand.

I'm still uncertain of who I want to be, and at this point I'm in educational anarchy (if I wasn't already).

But enough about me. If engineering is where your heart lies, do it. Sure, money is still important, and art jobs generally don't pay very well, but I seriously doubt the pay for engineering is that bad. Certainly more than I would make translating/interpreting!

As long as it's enough to live off of, go for it. I'll eventually have to get student loans also, so I feel your pain there. I think you should look into getting into a community college first, then move on to a bigger college once you have the basics down. It's cheaper that way, and that's what everyone is recommending to me.

Sorry if I don't make any sense; I'm sleepy...

 

Do what you love the most.

I have gone through a fair amount of financial hardship pursuing my dreams. It's been extremely trying at times, but it's worth it. I may struggle to get by and put food on the table but I am happy. Follow your heart.

 

If you don't have passion for what you pick you might as well sell peanuts at the local stadium. It's the same deal.

From what I've seen acquiring a STEM degree doesn't mean that you will get a well paid job or that you will be able to find a job at all. Picking something from the arts department doesn't mean that you won't be able to find anything.

If I were you I'd try to pick something that's interesting to me and that gives me reasonable chances at a decent job. Everything else is luck and hard work.

 

I think the best course is to find a middle ground or at least a backup plan if you are going into a field with an unstable job outlook. I know that isn't what people generally say, but a realistic approach is good. Blindly following passion can come back to hurt you..

 

Money and other materialistic considerations aside, you have to ask yourself honestly: do you have the endurance to commit to a career and give it your all, day in, day out, if all the while in the back of your mind you are wishing you could be doing something else? And can you keep doing that for many years, maybe for a significant portion if not the rest of your life? Because if you can't, then it's not really fair on either you or the people that will be relying on you to perform that role. This is especially true if you're considering something in the medical field which requires a strong long-term commitment and all of your focus. Though it does vary depending on what you're looking into of course, it's generally not a good idea to go into a job like that solely for the sake of money (unless of course, you also have some passion for the medical field).

Things might be slow to start with your preferred options, but others do do these jobs and eventually find their footing (inadvertent architecture reference!). By all means have a back up plan (or several smaller plans that can cover you while you work towards your ultimate goals), and diversify your skills as much as is feasible, be flexible and make yourself stand out if it's something you really want and there's a lot of competition basically.

Honestly, there's a very big clue in the amount of people in their senior years that express some regret at their decisions despite having had successful and profitable careers, vs those who faced struggles and challenges to pursue their dreams but ultimately are glad they didn't give up.

 

I agree with above. I am a little confused about your dilemma because the fields you said you were interested (engineering, architecture) are in high demand. Also, these are not "Arts" degrees and both careers pay very well so student loans are not an issue.

Similar to medicine, both fields require a lot of time, loads of stress, and a commitment to work that will take a big toll on your body and mind. You need to go into a field that you enjoy so that you are able to justify these non-monetary costs to yourself. If the time and stress isn't worth it to you, then you will not be successful.

Money is not an issue in any of the fields you mentioned so I think you should do what interests you more.

 

I don't know about employment in the US but i do know that engineers are in high demand in Australia (and they get paid good money).

Just remember you don't necessarily have to make your passion a career. People always told me to follow my passion which was music, but when I pursued music as my career it began not being as fun and relaxing anymore. I don't know that's just me. Now I am pursuing a high paying career that I'm good at and music is now my hobby. I'm so happy I did that because now I have the best hobby ever! Sometimes following your heart/passion isn't always realistic. Doesn't mean you can't turn your passion into a hobby.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do