[WalterBright]

My experience was the complete opposite. I loved learning that stuff. It was like somebody turned the lights on. Like I was handed the keys to the universe. In my mind I could see the electrons flowing. With the math I could figure out how and why.

I am sad for you. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money. But there are endless ways to make money, pick something you actually like.

I've counseled many kids: Draw two circles, one around what you like, the other around what makes money. Do the things in the intersection.

[dreamcompiler]

My EE experience was like yours. Especially the day I learned Laplace transforms. I felt like I'd found a magic wand.

Except I never thought about money until I graduated. "Holy hell!" I realized. "They want to pay me a ton of money for this? I'd do it for free!"

Fortunately I was smart enough not to say that last part out loud.

[Sirened]

> They want to pay me a ton of money for this? I'd do it for free!

Happy to see that other's found this too :) This was my experience with CS—I always loved it and I am, to this day, still surprised that they pay me so much because I used to do this exact same stuff at home for fun. I feel like I got exceptionally lucky that my passion just so happens to be something exceptionally profitable because I have no idea what I'd do otherwise.

[WalterBright]

Reminds me of many accounts by fighter pilots in WW2. "I can't believe they pay me to fly these things!"

Can you imagine flying a P-51? I splurged and bought a 30 minute ride in the back seat. Sigh. Holy Crap! Pure heaven! I was smiling for the next week.

[imtringued]

The German Bundeswehr solved that problem by not letting their pilots fly and instead promote them to some managerial office jobs. That is still cheaper than paying for real flight hours.

[selimthegrim]

Did you actually learn how they work or how to just use them out of a table?

[dreamcompiler]

I learned them. They changed nasty* differential equations into simple algebra problems. Oh boy did I learn them.

*Or rather I thought at the time they were nasty. Later I learned about nonlinear differential equations, where Laplace transforms don't help.

[wormer]

It's so frustrating for me to read things like "I am sad for you". I don't have the option to do what I want; someone has to pay to feed the children and keep the lights on at my village back home. Another commenter said something like "I would do this for free!". Great, you did it for the love of doing it and had the privilege of coming from a background where you can go through college without thinking of money, but I can't, and being talked down to condescendingly about it is infuriating.

[WalterBright]

> I don't have the option to do what I want

I was replying to a college student. Someone going to college does have the option of which major.

I am also referring to people in America. I understand that Americans have a lot more opportunities than people in other countries.

[ThrowawayR2]

You're trapping yourself into a 30-40 year career that you clearly can't make yourself care before you've even started. What exactly do you think is going to happen to you 10-20 years into your career? Growth and advancement are continually expected for an engineer over the course of their career. And the engineering professions aren't large communities; get a reputation as "that mediocre guy that doesn't care about his profession" and it's game over.

And the worst part is that you're doing this to yourself. You won't have anyone else to blame for it.

[strken]

What do you want to do? If I put together a list of things it'd be hundreds of lines long and at least some of them would be profitable.

I think people aren't baffled by you choosing a high-paying career, but by you not having anything that's both high-paying and interesting. Why electrical engineering and not CS or nuclear or something? Is there nothing at all that both interests you and pays well?

[wormer]

This is the thing that I have the most passion for. I like computers and electronics. But it's dwarfed by other passions that I have that I would much rather be doing. No bills are being paid by me wanting to bike or write in my journal.

And I know it's a sentiment that isn't unique to me, since a lot of my friends from similar backgrounds share this feeling. You choose the major that you can tolerate and also pays well.

[WalterBright]

So you do like it. That is unlike the poster I was responding to.

[barry-cotter]

The poster you are responding to here and the one you responded to first are the same person.

[WalterBright]

You're right, I missed that. I assumed they weren't because they were contradictory.

[honkler]

you are absolutely right, and I understand you completely.

[grog454]

> someone has to pay to feed the children and keep the lights on at my village back home.

Why are you solely responsible for this?

[wormer]

Because I have access to education and wealth opportunities that they don't.