<p>I'm going into my senior year of environmental engineering so it is time to start thinking about grad school. </p>
<p>I'm considering 2 very different routes: transportation engineering, and sustainable energy. </p>
<p>I'm currently doing an REU in the sustainable energy and it is okay. I mean i don't hate it and I'd say i enjoy myself there but at the end of the day I'm not like "oh, i can't wait to get back into that lab!" and from that I see, thats not the attitude of any of the grad students. </p>
<p>I'm hoping to find something where i'll be like "oh, i can't wait to get back into that lab / work!" for grad school and ultimately my job. But is this asking for too much? I mean I could see this if i was a soccer star but for normal jobs, does this really happen?</p>
<p>Should I be happy if i can have a stable job after going to grad school that i don't hate?</p>
<p>It is called work instead of fun for a reason. Personally I think you’re setting your standards a bit too high. There’s a difference between liking your work and liking it so much that you want to spend every waking second there. I can’t honestly say I know anyone who falls into the second category but I know quite a few who fall into the first.</p>
<p>Setting your sights on obtaining a job you enjoy or at least somewhat enjoy is probably more reasonable. If you have extremely high expectations it might also negatively influence your view of a job you might otherwise enjoy because it wouldn’t live up to your extremely high standards.</p>
<p>I’m not sure exactly when this happens, but at some point in your life your whole perspective of things like this changes. To expect to find work where you “can’t wait to get back to it” is childish and unrealistic. Work is… well, work. Human beings are not naturally inclined to doing any sort of work… and loosely defined, work is simply something you HAVE to do. Trust me, when you HAVE to do something (even something fun like playing video games) you just don’t want to do it.</p>
<p>What you want to do is find some other type of less superficial motivation. No matter what type of work you do it will involve producing results, which involves stress, which you nor your body like. Therefore, finding work FUN will never happen. But work CAN be satisfying, and that’s what people mean when they say that they love their work. In other words, when you average out the good and the bad (there are ups and downs in everything) then the end result is something agreeable. Its like so many other things in life… you just can’t simplify it to “fun” or “not fun.” Work is something beyond that.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t listen to any negative comments posted by the other people. It’s definitely possible to find a job that you’re extremely passionate about. The catch is, however, that the words "safe job and “money” usually don’t line up with “passion” unless you are THE best. </p>
<p>First of all, you should consider asking the questions: “Do I want to have a stable career and earn lots of cash?” or “Do I want to take huge risks and most likely end up poor pursuing something I love?” If you want a stable career, then like everyone else said, you need to find a balance between perception and reality. The only possible exception to this is becoming a professor in a field youre passionate about (and it seems like environmental isnt your field). </p>
<p>There’s a reason why Isaac Newton and Barack Obama have had the type of job you’re looking for. They didn’t want money or prestige or fame. They just wanted to follow their heart and do what’s right. As the President of the Harvard Law Review, Obama chose to follow his heart and end up in the poor side of Chicago (initially) instead of securing a high-paying job with a law firm. However, these successful people are one in ten-thousandand, you definitely dont see the failure stories on the news. Take my words as a grain of salt, and I wish you luck in the future.</p>
<p>I’ve a few work terms. They were all ‘okay’ jobs, jobs i didn’t hate but i didn’t look forward to them every second I was away. I didn’t hate them either, they were just…okay. </p>
<p>I don’t know whether i should be satisfied or whether i should look for something better.</p>