Job Satisfaction or Salary?

I've been in 'tech' for 30 years. I took the path of 'satisfaction', or more accurately I did things that interested me. But it's just a different path, rather than better.

In my first year of a computer science degree (UK) I was in a graphics lecture and the tutor said (paraphrase): "don't worry if you don't understand this, just learn the words and you can get through life blinding people with science." It felt off, like not the point of a university (or life). A few weeks later I failed myself out of that place and went to work in the industry.

At the same time I was reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig). It was a life changing book. It's not really about motorcycles, but is about technology. I initially took the message that performative work is pointless (for me and society), and that you know what is good work. It's less black and white in the world of real work, but you know when a job is worthwhile for that point in your life.

I formed the idea that life is a little bit like software. You don't hold multiple copies of the same objects. So if you do the same commute for ten years, in software you'd have one commute object and ten years of pointers to it. Do the same job for fifteen years, then you only need one copy of Job because each day is pretty much the same. How many distinct instances of something you do very regularly can you recall in detail?

My view is that life is the opposite of efficient software. We want a bloated memory of different objects. We don't want garbage collecting to prune things out. When you print out your life at the end, make it run to as many pages as you can.

Yes, you need salary. On the 'satisfaction' path it's useful to work out what your minimum requirement is, which opens yourself up to more opportunities because you removed the largest constraint.

It's difficult sometimes. Onboarding can be pretty monotonous at some places because you have to build up to the cool stuff. In some companies the "fun" runs out after a few years or you may hit a plateau in what you can learn at a given position.

If the job is dull, having a satisfying life outside of work can definitely help balance it, but I've found that this just prolongs the inevitable: finding a new position or company.

I think it depends a lot on where you are in life. If you're just starting your career, I would advise going for salary over satisfaction. Here's why:

1. The power of compounding. If you're able to make a bunch of money right out of the gate and you're disciplined and save and invest most if it (maybe you even live with your parents so you can save even more), then you're putting yourself in a great financial position to take a pay cut later or even retire completely.
2. If you don't like your high salary job, then you can start looking for another one after a year or two, and a wonderful place that you would prefer to work at very well might be willing to pay you even more to entice you. Plus, if you're getting paid at lot, chances are that you're working for a prestigious company whose employees are coveted throughout the industry. If you're already getting paid a lot, you have better opportunities to get paid even more.
3. Certainly not always, but often people starting their career have fewer responsibilities and stressors in the rest of their life, especially if they're making enough to be financially comfortable. No spouse, no kids, parents aren't too elderly yet. Good health. Shiny, pink, flexible brain to fill with lots of new knowledge and skills. This puts you in a good position to handle higher stress and workload (of course, you do still have limits that you must respect) and learn a ton while doing it.

That is not what I did. Actually, when starting my career, I had to make this decision, and I chose a lower-paying, less prestigious job that I thought I would be happier in. I don't know how things might have turned out if I had decided differently, but I tend to believe now that I didn't make the best choice then. But heck, maybe I would be dead now if I had chosen differently. Just can't know.

Then once you do have more responsibilities outside of work, and you have a strong financial position from your earlier adventures, that's a great time to start slowing down and giving more weight to the things that make you happier.

Regardless, don't do a job you hate, even if it pays a lot. I would say just be willing to make some amount of sacrifice to get onto a more solid financial/career path early.