What is more important to you in your career?

The latter.

The latter as well. I can do good outside of work if I really need to.

Right. Unless you’re incredibly lucky, a job is just a means to eat and live, so make it as painless as possible. The meaningful important stuff you do on your own time because you want to.

The latter. I like going to work and enjoying what I do. That makes it feel less like work. :-)

I’m struggling with this question myself, right now. I’ve always pictured myself doing some kind of scientific research or engineering. But I’m increasingly realizing that I don’t really know for sure if I would enjoy the day-to-day tasks involved in those careers, and that what really is appealing to me about those careers is the idea of what I’d be accomplishing. And more and more I’ve been thinking about how much I would enjoy doing game design, but at the same time, I don’t want my purpose in life to be to create things whose only big impact on the world is causing 14 year old boys to flunk out of school. D:

I would rather have a job that provides me with daily satisfaction.

Maybe I’m jaded, but whatever job you choose, management will take all the credit for your accomplishments and criticize you in “performance reviews” for endless nit-picky stuff. If your supervisor calculates the load bearing of a bridge, for example, and you discover that said bridge will collapse the first 18-wheeler that goes over it, and you point that out to your supervisor, you’ll get scolded for your arrogance for thinking that you know more than your supervisor. Bah! Jobs are just a source of survival. Do your own meaningful stuff…

I would like the job that pays more

@HungryGuy I think a lot of jobs are like that but not all of them. I love being a nurse and I know what I do makes a difference to the people I help when I’m working. It may not be helping the world, but I like helping other people.

@Seaofclouds – Okay. Granted. But I’m in a software engineering field, where stuff like that is the normal mode of operation.

A job that pays more for the non work things I want to have and do.

I’ll take the former – I want to make a positive impact on others regardless of how I feel in all that I do.

I hate to say it, but the way things have become it all boils down to money and a sense of steadiness, stability. I totally agree with positive contribution, but at the end of the day when harsh reality hits, it’s the salary and job stability that pay the rent, bills and keep the wolf out of the door.