#FindingPassion #CareerGrowth #JobSatisfaction #HighPay #CareerSwitch #TechIndustry #AsianParents #CodingSkills #PersonalGrowth
I’m 22 and still can’t seem to find passion for anything…
Hey there, fellow twenty-something struggling to find your passion and carve out a successful career path. I totally get it – feeling stuck in a job that doesn’t excite you can be draining and demotivating. But fear not, because you are not alone in this journey.
The Problem:
As a 22-year-old Electronics engineer working in Marketing for an IOT firm, you’ve hit a roadblock in your career growth after just a few months. The pressure from your Asian parents to excel and compare yourself to others is adding to your stress and anxiety. You want to switch into a high-paying job before the age of 25, but you’re not sure where to start.
The Solution:
- Explore Your Options: Take some time to reflect on what truly interests you and excites you. Research different industries and job roles to find something that aligns with your passions and strengths.
- Networking: Reach out to professionals in the tech industry and attend networking events to expand your contacts. Building relationships can open doors to new opportunities and insights.
- Upskill: Invest in learning new skills and technologies that are in high demand in the tech industry. Consider taking online courses or workshops to improve your coding skills and stay competitive.
- Set Clear Goals: Define your career goals and create a roadmap to achieve them. Break down your goals into achievable milestones and track your progress regularly.
- Seek Mentorship: Find a mentor who can guide you in your career journey and provide valuable advice and support. Learning from someone with experience can help you navigate the ups and downs of the job market.
Remember, it’s okay to feel lost and unsure about your career path at this age. Take the time to explore different opportunities and find what truly sparks joy and fulfillment in your life. Don’t give up on your dreams of landing a high-paying job and making your parents proud – with dedication, hard work, and a positive mindset, anything is possible!
If you have any tips or insights to share with our fellow struggler, drop them in the comments below. Let’s support each other in finding our passion and achieving our career goals! 💪🚀
I don’t know what your expectations were, but it takes time to be growing in your role and most folks aren’t “passionate” about their work. If you’ve been there less than a year you should be focused on learning how to work, learning your role and the company around you, and getting your performance up. Start asking for feedback from your manager and address the issues they flag so you’re developing and growing. That will likely help you in any job you end up in.
In terms of teaching yourself to code, if it’s interesting and your hobby then of course spend time on it. But if not the field is very oversubscribed with folks that have formal training and work experience in the field, so it may be very hard to self-teach yourself and break in. A better plan might be to find a job where you can do a bit of coding in the job too (data analysis, creating simple automayions for stuff you do, etc.) and try to build from there.
Working in marketing? There is your problem right there…
Didn’t find my passion until 25, keep looking.
What do you mean, you stopped seeing growth after 2 months? You literally just graduated and started a job… what kind of growth pace did you expect?
I honestly can’t stand the “passion” concept when it comes to careers. To have a successful career you need two things: 1. The capacity to do the job. 2. Discipline to do the work well. Passion is something that corporate leaders/shits will use and exploit to line their own pockets. I’m not saying that you should find work extremely boring and have contempt, or that some people aren’t good to work for, or that you shouldn’t invest your time into improving your career, but you shouldn’t look inward toward your own passion or think you’re a failure if you’re not continually naturally motivated to be “an industry thought leader who gives TED talks about how great things are!” Focus on the business, do work that helps the company succeed, keep middle management pet projects at arms length, build trust with management and your coworkers, and leverage your work for promotions and raises even if it means working somewhere else.
A lot to unpack here, but I definitely understand and can relate.
Asian parents are notorious for hyping up their kids and comparing. You’re still very young and just starting out your life. You’ll learn over time that this world is not easy and everyone has their struggles. A lot of the hype you hear about other people’s kids are just that or overly stretched truths. Of course there are a small percentage that are doing real well, but that’s definitely not the majority. You’re an adult now, it’s your life to live, and you live with the decisions that you make, not them. If you chase expectations and comparisons, it’ll be an endless chase. It starts with comparing grades when you’re a kid, then what university you get into, what major you pick, first job out of school, income, when you get married, your partner’s career, having kids, accomplishments, etc…. it’s never ending. It’s your life to live, you’re the one that has to work in your field for the next 30+ years. Let all the comparisons be noise and keep living your life. The sooner you come to that realization, the better your life will be. If Asian parents had their way, everyone would be Doctors and there would be nobody to do all the other jobs that are also important in keeping the world moving.
You’re 22, you’re just barely starting out. Growth takes time. It definitely doesn’t come in 2 months or 10 months. Pick a field that interests you enough, strive to be great at what you do, and work your way up. CS is a good field, but it’s not for everyone, and only a small percentage make the crazy money that you hear about on the internet. CS is the degree with the biggest/wildest pay range. Only the top 2-5% that get picked up by one of the big tech companies start out $150K+ out of school. The majority start out somewhere in the $70-90k range. The days of teaching yourself to code or going to a bootcamp and being able to getting a job right after are nearly gone. Up until two years ago there was a shortage of talent. Companies had to pay a premium to attract people and lowered the standard to hiring self taught people and bootcamp graduates. With the layoffs in the last two years, there are a lot more competition in the talent pool for companies to pick from. The ones with degrees are getting picked up first. Even then, I know people with degrees that are unemployed.
* An Engineer with typical Asian parents.
I personally find not having a passion for a career is good. Find a high paying career where you can have fun expensive hobbies that you are passionate about
1) You are way too young to be exhausted by this process. You’ll need to work for another 40 years, so it’s imperative that you change your perspective. I’d recommend practicing mindfulness. Making money/building a career in a sustainable way takes time.
2) Sorry to say that this lack of passion might never go away. I’m 37 and I was never able to sustain passion for my work, until I worked for myself. It’s difficult to have passion for work when any extra effort is only going to benefit a corporation (i.e. not you or your loved ones)
Your a young dude what are your interests indoors and outdoors put them on a list check off five narrow it down to your favorite thing to do problem solved.
I’m almost double your age and still can’t say I have a passion, lol.
Passion doesn’t pay the bills,
Your career does.
I have no passion for my job whatsoever but continue working it because it pays well and will allow me to retire early.
you’ll have a passion for food when you go hungry long enough. stop whining.
Many people here have already said what you need to hear. Whether you listen or not is up to you. Electronics engineering is a good field with good job prospects; why don’t you try to go into that? Marketing is fine too. Lots of eventually high paying jobs in marketing. Leverage your current job into a better job. You need to start applying and experiencing other companies if you don’t feel good where you are. 10 months is a bit short though, have you tried speaking to your leadership on whether or not you can do something new?
I don’t really see you being on the fast track to retiring your parents, don’t feel bad, most of us are not. And I think it’s an unreasonable expectation. You did not ask to be born, so why do you live your life in such a subservient way to them?
Make sure it won’t be replaced by AI like a lot of coding jobs
I worked my first job freelance for 2 years before I got staff. My co worker waited over 3. You’re 22. Hahaha and the bigger issue is don’t live for your parents. Especially Asian parents. I know it doesn’t seem it, but they’ll love you no matter what. Not always in the warm and fuzzy way but they won’t disown you. Figure out what you want out of life and go for it.
Find passion outside of work. No, it’s unlikely you will be in a high paying job at 25. The vast majority of high paying jobs take years of work and building experience in valuable fields. Some people luck into the right opportunity at earlier age, but that’s not something you can just will into existence. Get into a field that’s in demand. Then do good work for growing companies. Build your network. Leave your job if it turns into a dead end. Stay at your job and make opportunities if they treat you well. Be social and play office politics. Do all this and maybe when you’re 35-40 you will have a high paying job.
Graduate school.
If you mindset is to “work for someone’s else” or “fulfill your parents expectation”, then you will never find any works that will bring you the passion, because you are being forced to do things for others. PERIOD. And just be honest to yourself, we all have different passions in life. Just examine one thing that you do the longest time in a day. Is it building things? Coding? Watch different online streams? Pxrn? or whatever. Start from that question to figure out what activity you would spend most time during the day/week/month. Then you can explore the work opportunities around that topic. For example, you watch pxrn all days long. Then look around on jobs being an adult actor or AV assistant producer, etc. <<< just giving examples, lol. Following this strategy, you will figure out what your true passion is, and you will be able to enjoy the work and career you pursue with that passion.