OPINION

Choosing a fitting career is already hard enough, but we are still torn between:

“Choosing a stable, high-paying job with few challenges or a joyful working environment with many opportunities for advancement but low income.”

To make a wise decision, we must consider three aspects:

• Money
• Experience
• Emotion

Advantages of working for money

Advantage 1: Obviously, money

Money cannot buy happiness. However, without property comes misfortune. At the lowest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are physiological needs: live, eat well, dress warmly, sleep well, and so on. If we do not have enough resources to meet these demands, we will be up the creek without a paddle.

Over time, the Circle of Concern expands as we begin to take care of our parents, spouse, and children. This need will continue to grow, so the career must generate enough value to meet these bare necessities.

Advantage 2: Respect

In some ways, when you are wealthy or extravagant, you are often respected by others. This is an undeniable social reality because “high income” is often associated with “success,” and successful people are conventionally admired. Furthermore, a high salary indicates that you hold a significant position within the organization.

Advantage 3: Safety

We never know when misfortune will strike. The only thing we can do is brace ourselves. And, without a doubt, the simplest way to prepare is to save money.

You will feel safe when you have enough savings to cover living expenses without paying for one year or more. If you accidentally lose your job, you will have enough time to find a new job.

If savings for sickness and accident is always available, you will feel safe.

Disadvantages of working for money

Disadvantage 1: It is never enough

When we aim to make money, we will never feel enough. Because the more we earn, the more we let ourselves lose.

• Spend more for self-reward.
• Spend more to recharge energy.
• Spend more to show that we have money.

And we will fall into a vicious circle, becoming slaves to money.

Disadvantage 2: Either the pressure is exceptionally high, or the work is incredibly dull.

There are two types of positions with high income:

• Highly pressured: High benefits imply that the company has high expectations for the value you create. Huge business goals that double and triple each time achieved will push you to the brink of burnout. You will be broken if you do not find a balance.
• Dull: Companies that create tight workflows maximize the value of each link in the chain. You are put in a position, doing what is expected of you. No one encourages you to be creative and do things differently, you earn a good salary, but at night you wonder, “Is my life like that?”

Disadvantage 3: Stagnation

As a result of disadvantage two, when you accidentally burn out, it takes a long time to relocate the initial flame and restore the energy. This period will turn into a long pause, and you may fall behind the people of younger generations.

Boring jobs solely focus on making the best use of the skills you already possess. And if you keep doing what you are good at, you will be stuck right where you are.

Advantages of working for experience

Advantage 1: Yourself, of course

Hands-on experience is the deeper layer of experience, without which life would be meaningless.

The more experience you have, the more powerful you will become, and your cultivation will follow suit. We can lose money, but the knowledge we gain will last a lifetime.

Advantage 2: Resume

You cannot list income on your resume, only the experience you have.

No matter what happens, your experience follows you. When the current environment rejects you, or you want to change to another workplace, you will immediately realize the importance of gaining knowledge.

Advantage 3: Reputation

When working for experience, you actively participate in challenging projects that will bring you fame will bring you fame if turned out successful.

When you work for experience, you will want to accept any challenge that comes your way, and when you succeed, you will earn recognition.

Disadvantages of working for experiences

Disadvantage 1: Money

Working for experience means you do not have much experience in what you are doing, which implies that you may not add much value to the company.

As an apprentice, the company will evaluate you and pay less than a qualified employee.

You also do not have much time to keep accepting the average living standard, especially when your parents are getting older by the second.

Disadvantage 2: Unusable experience

You can gain experience no matter where you are or what you do. It is simply observing something, conceptualizing it into knowledge, and remembering it to form your own experience.

However, there will be types of experience that you gain but will not be able to apply later because they are only appropriate for an old environment, an old way of working, or are out of date in comparison to the market.

Disadvantage 3: Time

When working for experience, you must perform unfamiliar or challenging tasks. As a result, it will take you longer to complete them.

Work can pile up, and you will be buried in it.

Emotion

We are often advised to choose a job that we enjoy, but enjoying it does not guarantee happiness. Any job will require you to experience a wide range of emotions; however, to maintain your mental health, you must pay attention to the following lists:

It is good when you:

• Feel the pressure when facing challenges
• Feeling glad to be supported by colleagues
• Feeling sad because you did not try your best
• Feeling refreshed because efforts are recognized
• Feeling exhausted when breaking the limit
• Feeling proud when you got an achievement
• Feeling bewildered when preparing to do things you do not know
• Feeling confident when there is progress

It is not good when you:

• Feeling glad that you do not have to do a lot of work
• Feeling lonely when not in a group or a faction
• Feeling pleased that your boss assigns complex tasks to others
• Feeling jealous that coworkers are biased
• Feeling happy as long as you do not get fired
• Not feeling proud of the company’s achievements

Final thoughts

If you have various options, you can choose a job that pays well and gives you experience.

However, based on my experiences, the advice is that if you are not under pressure to survive, spend the first years gaining experience. You can take advantage of the time your fire is still burning, and you are still healthy to say “Yes” to all opportunities at work.

If you lack professional experience, you will gain soft skills. Do not let money lead you astray from doing things correctly.

It will be more difficult for those who do not have enough resources (which is different from overspending). However, I believe knowledge and experience will provide a solid foundation for you to create more value and reap more benefits in the future.