This article needs to go to a lot more places to generate some interesting discussion. For a little too long, I bought into the dream of “do something you love.” This brought me a low income and the wrong kind of work experience to build a career in engineering.

I ran into a study that identified happiness in the workplace. It seems that only 15% of us are truly happy in our occupations. The other 85% are getting a paycheck.

These days I am thankful for my current occupation. It keeps my family off the poverty line. It does give me a sense of purpose as I help adults acquire their high school education. But is it really what I want to do? No, it does not.

Looking back, I should have taken those engineering jobs that were a little boring. Someone has to do that work. These jobs pay reasonably well and can move you into more interesting engineering work.