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I corresponded with an old friend yesterday who was communicating the tedium of his work as a software engineer. He is thankful that he earns a six-figure salary, and he understands that most people in the world would happily trade places with him, but that doesn’t change the fact that a future filled with a lifetime of coding doesn’t excite his probing and restless mind. Minds like his need stimulation and they could contribute so much to the rest of us if they were freed to follow their interests. Moreover, while technology companies pay some of the best wages in the United States, they expect more than 40 hours of work in return, which leaves my friend with less time with his children than he would like.
It is just so hard to know how to balance the responsibility we have for taking care of our kids with our desire to elaborate or express ourselves through our labors—that is to have more meaningful work. Hopefully, we can do both, but the fact is that most of us will have to do things we don’t like in order to survive. I wish it were different.
There is a lot to say about all this and I have written many posts about work on this blog. Rather than rewriting that material, I provide these links in the hope that they might provide my friend some comfort. I’d say that the post “Fulfilling Work,” best expresses my views on the topic.
Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose: What We Really Want From Our Work
A Summary of Bertrand Russell’s “In Praise of Idleness”
Friendship is Another Reason to Work
Should you “Do What You Love?”
The Problem of Work-family Conflict in the US
Kant: Should We Develop Our Talents?
And I’ll have more on the topic in my next post.
