I always knew I wanted a job that paid well, required using my brain, and involved some form of debate. I therefore believed that I wanted to be a lawyer. But it turns out that there are other things I need in a job that I had never considered. Here they are:
Autonomy. I definitely wanted training and guidance, but do not want to be told exactly how to do my job, especially once I am good at it. I am so thankful that I have complete autonomy for 90%+ of my workload as they are solo projects with no supervision. There was a time that I needed everything I did to be reviewed, and I hated it.
Measure Output, Not Input. My current employer does care about output (quality and quantity of my work), but they care much more about input (how many hours do I work, what times am I logged in, etc.). If my output drops by 50% one month, no one bats an eyelash. If I didn’t sign in or input my time for a month, I’d probably get fired. This is backwards. My friend who works at Google can show up whenever she wants and work as long as she wants. So long as she produces what’s asked of her (quantity), and she does a good job of it (quality), no one cares when she signs in or how much vacation she takes. I need that in my next job.
Help People and the World. I’ve discovered I like actually helping people. It makes me happy. I also like advancing world progress and/or making the world a better place.
Lucrative. What can I say, I need to support my family and lifestyle and having some extra cash wouldn’t be bad either.
One job that likely fits the above criteria and excites me is investment analyst or venture capitalist. Identifying early-stage companies that will do very well is something I would be good at, passionate about, and would help the world. An investment is a prediction (high returns means the prediction was right). You help founders by getting them funded and giving them good advice/making intros. Assuming the startup creates a product that enhances people’s lives (or at least raises GDP and lowers unemployment due to a high number of jobs it creates), you’re also helping the world. There is good money to be made if you bet on the right startups. And if you end up at the right firm (or solo), you can get autonomy. I hope to get employed in this world, but right now it’s just a dream.