On occasion, I have been asked for career advise. When asked what line of work would be the wisest to embark on, I invariably mutter something or other about computer engineering or web design or something. I say this, of course, having barely passed the basic computer competency course at university many moons ago. I say this, of course, out of a deep and profound sense of envy. I say this because I know the hardship and utter dejection of having tried to eek out a living as a journalist and writer for the better part of two decades.
Though my answer is more often than not intelligible, the person asking — typically a student of mine — gets the picture, so to speak. A career is nothing if it is not sustaining. That is, there is little use applying yourself to the daily fulfillment of tasks if they are not tasks you find somehow enlightening or rewarding. Though much is made of finding one’s calling and following one’s passion, I have found both callings and passion seldom pay the rent or keep the heat on in antarctic February.
As want to do, when I peruse my online job board listings, I am continually struck by the incessant demand for and exorbitant salary range of computer engineers and web developers. These are the brave lads and ladies that know an ITX motherboard from an ATX motherboard. These are the brave lads and ladies who can choose to live and work abroad and have their moving expenses paid for in full. I, to the contrary, would consider myself fortunate should someone buy me a cup of coffee, never mind a trip to Paris or Rome.
So great a proponent of the Gen X ethos was I that I wouldn’t know a line of Javascript from a line of HTML . Rather than merge onto the information superhighway, I opted to take the exit ramp to Rag and Bone. If you detect a hint of bitterness in my tone, I beseech you to see it for what it is: heartbreak. A life of letters — spent constructing sentences and pondering the significance of gerunds — is not a life to be romanticized. Only too late have I realize I’ve been had, so to speak.
Like most Gen X debutantes, I was under the distinct impression that if I suffered enough, I would be entitled to some form of generational award — something between an Oscar and an cable Ace. Like a lemming, I followed the anti-party line that to be authentic meant something. Only now, as I scroll through my fifteenth job post for a web developer — must have PHP expertise — do I realize how incredibly tedious it is to be poor, authentic, and driven by passion.
Gather round and listen you sweet birds of youth. Forget the liberal arts and make haste to understand the specifications and functions of ITX motherboards, rather than the definition of a gerund.