Career/Passion vs. Social/Family life
So I'm entering the end of my years of college and working on a few classes for my major and the professors has people come and talk to the class today about the profession such as what different jobs you can get, what the hours and pay are like, how you can build yourself a good resume and land a great job, and more stuff along those lines. Apparently the career I'm pursuing is very demanding in terms of hours. The guy said that with every job in the field it wasn't odd and out of the ordinary to work 15 hours often, and work on many weekends as well as major holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. When researching this stuff and what kind of degree/career I wanted to pursue nothing anywhere said anything about how demanding the work would in terms of time. In high school and early college I had always pictured myself having a nice 9-5 job with decent pay and coming home for dinner and spending time with my family. Even if it wasn't a 9-5, I would have liked to spend time with my family.
"TL;DR"- I love the classes and the job descriptions and what the daily routine would be like and what I've experience with the job from volunteering, but I've always pictured having a job with "normal" hours and spending plenty of time with family and friends. What would be most important to you: your career or spending time with your family?
11 Comments • Newest first
@Thiefy996: I thought the question was more about your childhood family (parents, siblings) than your adult family (spouse, children). I think most people in this thread are talking about the latter kind, I was talking about the former.
Which career are you pursuing?
I have to say balancing out both of them, even though I won't have kids.
How about... a healthy balance?
It depends individually. To certain people, just having friends is just as important as having a career.
avoid women from now on
My plan is to graduate college when I'm 21 and stay single while employed until my 30's, assuming no grad school.
I am currently not in possession of a wife or kids therefore my career would be more important to me. I intend to obtain a stable progressing career that will provide me with the necessarily financial stability for when I decide to get marry and start a family and have kids (a boy and a girl, or however many she decides). After I have a family I will devise an efficient plan for the optimal amount of time to spend at work so I can also focus on my family.
Career to rake in the monies probably. I usually waste my free time badly.
Career
You don't want children
Career first, always. The whole reason my family raised me was so I could contribute something to society.
EDIT: I don't mean that as in me personally. The whole reason anyone has babies is so those babies can grow up and continue the existence of the human race.