Worst. Career-Advice. Ever.

I’ve often been told, that I should “follow the money”. In other words I should move toward the job that pays the most. As long as it is in my field — the thinking goes — it doesn’t matter what I do, as long as I get paid enough to do it.

Following the money is the worst advice I’ve received because it doesn’t lead to anything good long-term.

Let me explain.

What’s important to me

A key reason why following the money is such terrible advice, is because if I did, it would keep me from considering what is important to me work-wise.

If I always followed the money, I’d use it as an excuse whenever I switched jobs — “Well, it was the one that paid better”. Turns out, money is a terrible motivation to do anything Deci (1971)

What’ much more important is intrinsic motivation.

Or in english: Things that are motivating, because they’re fun.

So let’s look at that.

Fun and Profit

What I’ve found, after working a few different jobs, is that one of the most important things, is having a job that appeals to my strengths.

It is important, because I find the job more fun, more challenging, more stimulating and as a result, I enjoy it more. When I enjoy it more, I am more inclined to do better — as is the case for humans in general.

If I had always followed the money, it would have led me down the wrong path, because I would have ended up in a job, I didn’t like.

Don’t get me wrong — money is an issue because I like to eat and be able to do fun things, but there are other considerations that are way more important to me.

Some of those considerations include — what am I good at it? What do I think is fun? Will someone pay me to do?

Let me illustrate with this very professionally crafted Venn-diagram.

Sadly no one is going to pay me to row and sing along to Eminem songs. Yet.

So what I look for instead, is a job, where I get to talk to people, sell things to them or do math. Ideally all three of them.

If I just look for a job that pays the most, then there is no guarantee I will get to do any of these. That would make me sad.

To avoid being sad I usually ask myself a question before I’ve changed jobs; Would I do the job I’m applying for, for less money than I’m currently earning.

If the answer is yes, then I take the job. If it isn’t, I’m not.

Simple as pie.

What matters

I spend at least 8 hours of my life at work for five days a week. That is a significant portion of my time. Which means it’s a significant portion of my life. There is no way I’m going to throw that away on something I don’t like doing, no matter how good the money is.

I want to do things that excite me. Things that are meaningful. Things that matter to me.

One of the things that matter to me is learning. Improving. Getting better.

If I just focus earning instead of learning, I’m not going to have any more marketable skills than I have now. As you probably noticed in the diagram above, the list is pretty short.

So if I want to make the jump to a more senior role or into management, there is no way I’m going to be qualified for it.

This means, that if I only focus on earning, I won’t have anywhere to go, once I enter what should be the most productive years of my career. I don’t want that.

So at this point early on in my career, learning is more important to me than anything. This means I get more valuable down the line, because I add to my skill-stack until I get to a point where I (hopefully) am one of the very few people with my specific skills. Something that is pretty valuable — just ask Dilbert founder Scott Adams.

If I focused on making the most money, there is no way to guarantee I would learn anything. In my experience, I’ve found a lot of entry-level jobs pay well exactly because they are terrible, monotonous soul-sucking jobs.

But hey — at least I could get a good price for my soul.

Don’t follow the money.

If I follow the money I’m going to end up sad, without the right skills and with nowhere to go. I don’t know about you, but a piece of advice that has that outcome seems like pretty terrible advice, don’t you think?

Following the money is short term gain, long term pain.

And, I generally try to avoid long-term pain.

That’s why following the money is the worst career advice ever.