If there is a better community to ask this question, I’m all ears.
I majored in history because I like history. With a major like mine without a doctor thesis you can only work as a teacher and children are mostly idiots. You could try academia, but the ROI here is so much below zero it doesn’t make any sense.
As a child I was musically gifted but my parents never considered music as something worth following or studying. As an adult I bought me a classical guitar 12 years ago and a grand piano 5 years ago and started playing. I learned to play both instruments on my own.
Don’t think for a moment my technique is good enough to start studying at a conservatory for either instrument. I already rehearsed for a piano professor and he told me I must have invested an insane amount of time, that my technique is simply not good and if I want, he knows of 2 colleges that offer preparatory courses I could attend to.
I work as a firefighter and none of my coworkers even suspects I majored in history or that I’m capable of playing any instrument, it’s something I don’t talk about with any of them because I don’t believe they would understand and they’d start with intrusive questions I hate (if you are so talented like you claim and have a major in history, why are you wasting your time as a firefighter?). I already tried to find a decent job with history and failed. It’s something I don’t want to repeat with a possible major in music. Firefighting, as tiring and unfulfilling as it is, pays my bills and has given me a financial independence I never had, but I never saw myself here.
The curious thing is I have enough money to stop working and covering tuition fees and lodging for 4 years plus the preparatory year, but I don’t know if choosing this path would be the stupidest of decisions ever made. If I work part time, I don’t have to spend my whole savings.
Working as a firefighter I feel I’m wasting my life, I don’t want to be a firefighter till I retire, but this job has given me financial stability and I dread losing that.
I do my job and when I’m not very tired at home after doing the laundry, buying food and cooking, cleaning my apartment, walking a bit to disconnect… I play. It brings me joy but as of now it’s only a hobby. To even monetize it I would have to at least have a bachelor.
Is this what it looks like?
I’m not in your shoes, but I gotta be honest, of all the useless jobs out there, firefighter is not one of them. I’m not trying to tell you you should find it fulfilling, simply that in my eyes at least, it’s a worthy role.
I agree! Your job literally saves lives! And, my kid would say, you have the coolest vans ever!
There’s nothing wrong with working a job only to pay the bills and seeking fulfillment outside of work. I love my hobbies, but I wouldn’t want to try and monetize them because they’re for my enjoyment, and turning them into a job would sap all that enjoyment out.
I think society (at least in the USA) has failed the younger generations in that regard. I remember being in school in the 90s and 00s and being told repeatedly to go to college for something you enjoy and are passionate about (also you need a 4 year degree, but that’s a different conversation). You definitely aren’t a failure for working a career that falls outside of your passion(s). Ask yourself what your end goal is for pursuing music as a career. Is that goal unattainable by pursuing it outside of work?
Yes, the idea that if something isn’t monetized it’s not worth doing is why we have 5 billion “influencers” on YouTube and the rest, though some of that is because a full time job in the Exploit Economy doesn’t even pay for regular cost of living so people are working after work instead of living.
none of my coworkers even suspects I majored in history or that I’m capable of playing any instrument, it’s something I don’t talk about with any of them because I don’t believe they would understand and they’d start with intrusive questions I hate (if you are so talented like you claim and have a major in history, why are you wasting your time as a firefighter?
I dunno, man, if a firefighter told me they were a history major and could play piano really well I’d just think they have some cool hobbies and of course they didn’t land a job with that degree. I don’t think anyone believes that a history degree is a reliable path to a career in a history-related job. Especially in this economy.
The whole part where it’s about whether or not you’re talented or misrepresenting yourself to them feels more like something you’re hearing inside your own head, not from the people in your life. I don’t think you’re accurately predicting how your coworkers would react to learning that you love history and play piano. I think that just makes you a cooler person to them. Really and honestly.
I could be way off base here, and if I am, sorry. What you said here reminds me of times in my life where I’ve felt ways that rhyme with your words. I’m sure you’ll sort this out and find fulfilling activities that excite you.
I have a pretty similar story except game design is my passion, and graphic design is the day job.
For a long time I wanted to make games professionally, and I’ve worked towards it for years, even releasing a game I made with a few friends in our spare time.
I’ve had some realizations lately though, that the closer making games becomes to a job, the less fulfilling it is for me. I’m starting to think I might prefer it as a passtime where I can make whatever interests me instead of trying to turn art into products.
Every job has shitty parts, which don’t necessarily exist when it’s a hobby. For games and for me personally, it’s was all the marketing and strategy around trying to get eyeballs on your stuff. I hate that part and I’m not good at it. I learned that the hard way with my released game, which very few people played even though I’m quite proud of it. It’s just really hard to get noticed as a small creator with no budget.
No real advice in here for you necessarily. I just see a lot of the same yearnings and frustrations in this that I’ve felt and it connected with me. Hopefully this is some food for thought at least.
“do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is total bullshit.
It’s more like “turn something you love into a job and you’ll ruin it”
If I shill mine again so soon you guys are going to shoot me. But I make knives because I think it’s neat and I enjoy being able to create something both useful and tangible, especially in this era of trying to turn every fucking thing into “AI.”
It is staggeringly unlikely I’ll ever be able to find enough buyers in my particular niche to quit my day job, and even if I do I’d doubt I’d be able to crank out product fast enough. That’s still not stopping me from doing it, though. You couldn’t stop me, even with a brick wall.
What kind of knives? Pocket knives? Bowie knives? Kitchen knives?
What’s your average price roughly? 50? 300? 1000?
My most expensive model is $300.
https://www.flightlessforge.com/.
I also have some very silly 3D printed ones…
They all look like a lot of fun! Nice job!
I really enjoyed your balisong utility knife write up. I know several people who would treasure it as a Christmas gift.
I write and release music. It’s not spectacular music, but it’s mine and I give each track my best before I send it off into the world. It earns me dust; I do not expect to ever make any kind of meaningful pay from it, and that’s fine because I don’t do it to make money. I do it because it’s in me to do it, because I love the craft, and I love the challenges of learning audio engineering and production.
In a past life I was actually a professional musician. I made money playing, giving lessons, conducting, a tiny bit from writing but not much…and as fun as that was it’s really a grueling lifestyle with lots of time away from home and I don’t have it in me to do that anymore. And no one wants to see my squishy dad bod prancing around on stage.
Now I work a quiet job in a materials testing lab. I spend my day torturing little pieces of metal and my evenings in my studio at home. Only one or two people at work know about my former life as a musician and are aware of the music I record. Most people just see me as the little happy lab rat that I am and I’m completely okay with that.
I’m a photographer, at least I think I am. Others think of me anywhere from a photographer to a clueless bumbling monkey with a camera, recording visuals at random. It’s polarizing.
My work hangs in my house, the houses of others, and a few businesses, and I’m incredibly proud of it. Despite the warnings of career photographers telling me to have humility and to be quieter about my work, I’m not going to. I like my work and want to share it with people.
If it’s a job that affords you the ability to still be able to enjoy the things you want to do, then it’s definitely not a wasted life. The worthiness of life isn’t defined by the way we earn money.
That being said, if you’re looking for other jobs that are maybe less taxing so that you can have more time to enjoy your life, and if you can afford it, you could go do something easier for sure. (I certainly wouldn’t classify fighting as an ‘easy’ job). The security guys at my work get to do whatever basically for 10 of the 12 hrs they work, one guy is writing a book, the other guy learned different languages. You could try something like that? And then if you have energy after you can go to open mics or something to get your musical talent out in the world without feeling stressed about needing to make money off it.
Yes open to open mike, and no sense in pursuing a Bachelor in order to make money from music. That would only be required if you want to apply to an orchestra position, and accept that the amount of people that studied music 6h per day over several years is much higher than you think.
There are many ways to make money out of music, and most don’t pay the bills. Guess what most musicians do? Teach.
I guess you have to decide if you would regret it more if you didn’t pursue your passion, or if you did and the financial sacrifice was too great.
Don’t monetize your passion. Nine times out of ten, you will either starve or grow to hate that passion, and then you’ll have no passion for anything. In the case of music, pick your genre. Think of how many artists you know in that genre. Think of how many of them are making a living at it. Now imagine the number of people making music in that genre you’ve never heard of. Do searches on YouTube or streaming services for your type of music and see how many of them you recognize or have even heard of.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to make it, assuming you have at least a modicum of talent and a lot of industry connections, but it’s not probable enough to bank your future on.
Bonus round: of the people in your genre who have made it big, how many went to a school specifically for music?
Enjoy your time making and learning music. If you want to get better to enjoy playing more, seek some instruction on form or technique. Just have fun with it. Do some open mic nights. Make a band with some friends. Magic some videos of you playing on the internet.
Find something else to make money with. Do a budget to see how much money you need to make to live and be healthy. Not rich, but happy. Start seeing what professions can make you that kind of money. Do work you can stand to fund the things you enjoy.
I have a Patreon and I promote it sometimes. I post novels and art made by myself and collaborators. Nobody cares. I don’t do endless shameless self promotion, I don’t have a pretty face, I’m not well connected, and I don’t have startup capital to produce the full range of things I’d like to make but can’t because I need a day job and am trying to get a degree.
It’s been soul crushing and every day is a struggle against giving up on it.
