What is your major? What are your plans after college? What field are you planning on going into? “That won’t make any money.” “You should consider changing your major.” These are just a few examples of the constant barrage of questions college students face over their four-year journey, and more often than not, it doesn’t stop then. The mess only grows. With the constant pressure of being more successful than the past generation, where does that leave my generation? Where does that leave the Millennials?
Every college student faces the “fork in the road” of which career do I want and what career makes more money. We are constantly told “do what you love, and the rest will follow,” but they forget to mention the fine print within that statement. They leave out the “do what you love (but preferably pick a career in a field that makes a larger salary, maybe something like pre-med, law, or something dealing with technology), and the rest will follow." And there is where the struggle begins. A struggle that everyone trying to figure out what they want to do with their life faces at one point in their career journey, and I feel in recent years this has only gotten worse.
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The Millennial generation is faced with expectations in technology. Technology has been a huge part of our development. It has grown as we have grown. Improved as we improve. Yet, we are expected to be the only generation who knows how to operate it, and with more jobs in the computer/technology field, people push our generation more and more into that field. It is the best fit, right? We know what we are doing, and it pays a fair amount. Personally, when it comes to technology … I have absolutely no clue what I am doing. If my iPhone glitches out, I don’t know how to fix it. In reality, I press a few things on the screen, try to restart my phone and if that doesn’t resolve the problem, become frustrated and throw it on my bed or the nearest thing to me at the time. I’ve seen way too many people go into careers solely for the financial benefits than being actually happy with what they are doing. The outcome isn’t a good one, and I don’t want to fall into that category.
When I choose my career, I would rather talk about how many people I have influenced, or helped, or improved than the number of zeros I’m bringing into my bank account with every paycheck. Yes, it would be nice to make a fair amount of money, but that isn’t a make-or-break deal. It shouldn’t be. Do what makes you happy. Do what you want to. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and those attributes cannot be measured by money alone. It is hard to truly do what you want to do in today’s society because of the added pressure, but focus on you. You are the only person that knows what you want to do. You are the only one you need to make happy. Do what you love, and the rest will follow.
