Thread: Do what you love or do what is safe?

It has more. Functors is a perfect example. Much faster than function pointers in most cases.
But ah, this wasn't a C vs C++ discussion. It was more of a Java vs C++ and what to choose, Java or C.

Originally Posted by whiteflags

Future of the Job Market - Future Unemployment Rates - Esquire

It's an interesting article. I can draw many (but not all) parallelisms with the current Portuguese employment situation. It's probably safe to assume it mirrors the situation in about every so-called western country.

I'm however unsure as to some points. I guess there's a strong component to all of this that has been neglected. Can it be that another reason for workers to switch jobs less during a recession has anything to do with the fact a recession is by definition a period of a certain instability and insecurity? I'd say this is a primary reason. During this recession that inevitably hit my country too, I moved from being owner of a bookstore, to bankruptcy and now working full-time again for someone else. A situation I had promised myself would never happen again. With an interesting twist... I thank the gods I got this job at the age of 40. Looking for something else? No, not really. Not when I have a signed contract that gives me a certain stability during these times and the working environment and pay are not that bad anyways.

Maybe because that's how I was raised, but I always looked at my job (be it my own business or working for someone else) as mostly a matter of job satisfaction. And many elements enter into the equation. Doing what I love is not at the top of the list. Not even close. My personality (I guess) demands instead first and foremost a feeling that I'm getting a fair pay for my work. Not necessarily a great pay, but a pay that I think is fair. Feeling cheated really ruins my motivation in dramatic ways. You have no idea. A good working environment with good working conditions and affable colleagues comes next. Perceived opportunities for career development, a close third. Loving what I do is really not in my list of top priorities. Especially because in this field I can care for that on my computer at home. A advantage that many other professions don't have, unfortunately.

...

Job satisfaction is thus, in my opinion, the true catalyst for most decisions. mr_coffee needs perhaps to do some introspection and find what makes him tick. His decision needs to come from there. As I tried to demonstrate not everyone is that attached to the concept of "doing what I love", neither is "what I love" the only factor to take into consideration. Especially when the rewards are not that clear.

Honestly ibm is spending a ........ ton of money re-coding one of their huge network management products (I'm not going to say which in case I'm not allowed to disclose this) but the whole application was written in C++ (and its huge) and they are re-doing it in Java.

Given that IBM has just about dropped the ball on all things PC I don't take much stock in this change. It may be that they do not wish to use C++ in as far as it relates to using Microsoft compilers. Let's face it if you want to compile C++ on Windows platforms it doesn't get much better than MSVS. Sure there is Intel and some other compilers but they definitely don't have the same expandability. Code with MSVS and just about every other Microsoft technology is just waiting to be used and fits right into the compiler with no complaints.

And as to your original question I say do what you like. Even 'safe' jobs today are not as 'safe' as they seem. But then again I have an entrepreneurial spirit having previously owned a business so of course I choose the path with the most risk.

But think about it. If you don't like what you are doing but you get to do it for years and years....is that any better than enjoying what you do for brief stints at this company or that company? I would choose the latter b/c for me it give the most satisfaction. But since I have a family I would probably be forced to choose the first option. I don't really get the option of doing what I want to do and it's more of what I have to do to survive.

Thankfully in my current position I enjoy what I get to do.

Originally Posted by Elysia

It has more. Functors is a perfect example. Much faster than function pointers in most cases.

Sure. That must be what made it such a "wideload in the water" according to most (non-execptional) performance tests

Peaks, valleys, and a lot of sandtrap. I guess it's good for certain things.