Passion in life, ... and careers. Options

[AngelinaTaylor]

One thing I've always wondered is, when it comes to work, why do people choose to go to something they're not even that interested in. I have tons of friends who just say, "Oh yeah, I'll go into business or something", when often they don't even like it.

Is it just rare for people to find a career path that they truly want to do/like?

What's your passion in life?

[*mipadi*]

It's interesting you should mention this, because it's something I've observed many times at college. I'm a computer science student, and it's something I'm fairly passionate about—right now, I'm even planning on pursuing a doctorate in comp sci so I can work in a research-oriented field. As nerdy as it sounds, I actually spend a lot of time reading documentation for the languages with which I work, primarily C, Objective-C, and Java. I have well over a half gig of source code on my computer which I browse through in an attempt to learn something, and I actually help out with a couple open-source projects.

The thing is, most people I go to school with don't have that same level of passion for what they study. There are a few people who are really into their field, but a lot of students just seem to drift through college. They place more emphasis on partying than they do on the pursuit of real knowledge.

On the one hand, I feel that a lot of these people lack passion in life; but on the other hand, maybe they do have passion, but for something other than their career. Some people (myself included) are focused highly on career goals, but to others, a job is just a means to an end, the end being some other passion or pursuit.