Another comment thread here on Hubski repeated the oft-spouted idea of college students everywhere that you should go for a job you love, rather than a job that doesn't move you.
And I think there is an unspoken part of this platitude that needs to be said out loud.
No job exists in a vacuum. Every job requires you to work with other people, and to collaborate with them to a greater or lesser extent.
And they will screw up your work.
I'm a writer by trade. I'm really good at my work, and a lot of people in the tech industry pay me ridiculous sums of money to write content for them.
I apply my twenty-plus years of experience to the task, and write AMAZING SHIT.
And then they change it.
And make it shitty.
So yeah. Tell all those idealistic kids to "do what they love", but know that you are setting them up for a life of frustration and stress, as they see the beautiful work they do destroyed by inept committees of the uninformed and unskilled.
This is true for photographers, writers, painters, developers, product designers, brewers, distillers, etc, etc, etc. (Imagine being a distiller and making a glorious new whisky... and then some asshole pours half a Coca Cola over it. Same thing.)
Sometimes it might be better to go do a job for the money, and do the hobbies for love, if you truly love it.
The trick to doing works for hire is to recognize that you are not the final arbiter of quality. More importantly, your task is to apply your skills to the best of your abilities in service of what they want, not what you want. I love what I do and I've done some amazingly stupid shit. Eight plant mics to perfectly capture the sound of a miniature schnauzer running around for two hours. Two hours of voice work and processing to perfectly capture the essence of a gelatinous, transdimensional Snooki. Painstaking, mind-numbing clip finessing so that the Vegematic edit perpetrated by a director that should know better sounds seamless, despite the utter inanity of the interview. But I do it damn well, because they're paying me for a task, and that task is their choice, not mine. The minute I agree to take money for it I'm subverting my judgement to theirs. The only way they can screw up your work is if you are incapable of giving them what they need. Otherwise you're doing your level best to conquer a task that, given your druthers, you would not undertake. And I've had shitty editors fuck with my work because they're too rushed and poor to get another pass out of me - but the stuff they're paying me for, they get as close to perfectly the way they want it as I can get. Do I try to bring them over to my way of thinking? Every time. But I don't get too worked up about it because I'm renting out my skills, not my judgement. If my client wants a Jack and Coke, and he's buying my whiskey, I'm not going to begrudge him one bit. He can pour that shit on the floor for all I care. If I enjoy making whiskey, my joy is making whiskey and my payment is giving it up when I'm done. I'll go one further. If my client tells me he's gonna mix it with Coke I'm going to craft him some not-sweet-enough, way-too-heavy-on-the-bite whiskey so that it'll balance out his cola better. 'cuz I'm a professional. I think it was David Brin who said he didn't care how bad The Postman was because the novel still existed. You do the work you do because you're good at it, and if your clients don't want the work that turns your crank, turn your crank doing something else for yourself. People paying for drivel allow you to bottle the brilliance for free. Both Wesley Snipes and John Sayles support their arthouse habits with Hollywood schlock.
This is really the essence of the idea. Follow your bliss, and all that dippy shit, but know that your work is only part of a larger whole, and you need to be able to do good work, then turn your back on it and move on. There's a preciousness to things nowadays that is a bit galling. All work is done in steps, as a part of a system. Enjoy your work. Do it well. Take pride in a job well done. But do not treasure your work, or value it higher than the person that paid you for it. That way madness lies! :-) Yeah. People like working with me because I'm a personable guy. I know much better writers who don't get the work I do because they are hard to work with. Be good. Be patient. And be willing to release your stuff into others control. The trick to doing works for hire is to recognize that you are not the final arbiter of quality.
More importantly, your task is to apply your skills to the best of your abilities in service of what they want, not what you want.
I think there is an element you're missing there with your examples in particular. Once you create something for someone else, whether it's contributing to a collaborative effort or its a product for a customer, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the group you are a part of or the customer who bought your product. They are free to take what you have given them and do with it what they see fit, whether you like their actions or not. It's important to be passionate about your work, but it's also equally important to exercise detachment as well. Unless you're truly independent, where your work for the most part only affects you, you are always working for others, whether you work in retail or manufacturing or research or medicine or what have you. Your efforts and your work is about more than you. With that in mind, whether you do or do not enjoy the work you do, it's important to do it well, no matter what the job is, because you're giving others a part of who you are, and it's important to give people your best.
Absolutely. We are saying the same thing. Do what you love, but then you gotta let that shit go out into the world on its own, and you cannot hold any further investment in it. And that is hard. When you do what you love, you put your heart in it, and so when you let it go, a little bit of your heart goes with it. That is a hard thing. And nobody talks about that side of it when telling people to "live their bliss", or "follow their dream", or "do what you love". I just want to bring up the fact that this platitude has a genuine dark side, and that dark side can be really hard to adjust to.
All fair points. Just keep delighting in the fact that you are seeing ample recompense to continue honing your craft. I know it's hard when people shit all over your work, but like others have said, take the money and try to put it all behind you. Easier said than done, I'm sure. I haven't had a notable instance of this happen to me yet, but surely someday a professional product or service of mine will see itself properly defiled. Cheers to that!
I guess it's all just coming to a head today, since it is the last day of my contract, and now I am looking for work again. And the work I have to show is... the final version of the stuff I wrote. Which went through the committee mill before finding its way to the web site. So... yeah. Oh well.
I see the problem, but it's offset by the fact that a) your butchered prose are probably still quite appealing to prospective hiring committees and b) your passion about the quality of your work will shine through almost every professional interaction. I can't promise you that the same damn thing won't happen when you finish up another gig, but at least that's food on the table until then. Sounds like good food, too. :)
I was so proud of myself the first time I did interlock. My boss loved it and the client seemingly loved it aside from one small area we were going to change on our next visit. Well I guess she had a change of heart because she had gone nuts and ripped up everything before our next visit. I found out this happens a lot in home reno's too when clients don't think physics applies to them. I don't think I could handle doing a creative job like that because I had to take a walk that day. I don't even think I would be mad if somebody ripped out their muscles after I worked on them. Just mostly concerned and a little impressed. A lot impressed actually but I definitely feel accomplished doing it. It's so bitter sweet when somebody doesn't need me anymore.
It sounds like you're speaking out of frustration more than laying out the order of things. It seems to me that they've hired you as a writer - paying you what you call "ridiculous sums of money" - not to mess with you but because those who hired you aren't writers. They don't know better; this is where you come in. And you did come in: if your words are anything to go by, you did write some "AMAZING SHIT". From then on, there are two things that you might do. One is to consult the people who's changed the things you wrote on why you wrote what you did and why it's better than what it ended up as. This is a path of frustration, because now you have to explain 20+ years of experience to someone who's by far less skilled and expereinced in about five minutes or so, and it will not be a pleasant endeavour. If you care so much about your work, you might want to take it and, whatever the result, leave with the idea that at least you've tried. Or, you might come to realize that you've done your job - and beyond that, nothing is your responsibility. They can make it shitty; they can leave it as it is; hell, maybe it will just happen that they improve upon it. If there is something to learn from, you might want to do so, but after that, there's not much you can do about it - nor should you. You've been payed not to babysit someone but to write stuff; you did. That's it. You're done, and perhaps you've even done well with that, but that's as much as you have to do. Doing what one loves will probably entail a lot of stress - but not because other people are assholes or some other such shit. It will because those who do follow their dreams care about what they do and believe - with a degree of righteousness - that what they do is much better than what others might do. Just because someone pours Coca Cola over the amazing whisky that I've made doesn't make my work any less or the drink any worse - it just makes for a person who can't or doesn't want to have a refined taste for alcoholic beverages. And fuck tearing myself a new one over that poor schmuck: that isn't worth it. I'd rather enjoy the fact that I did good, no matter the result, because it's not the result that you're going to live with - it's your part in it.
Ya know what? You are absolutely correct. I was sold a bill of goods. "Follow your passion! Live your dream! Do what you love!" So I did. And then I saw the inept and uneducated destroy my work. That was a shock. They'd hired me to write beautiful things for them. So I did. And then they changed it! What?!? Why did you pay me to write it, then!?? Why did I pour my heart into this work?!? THAT's the real pisser here. I didn't get the second part of the "follow your bliss; then let that shit go." It sounds like you're speaking out of frustration...
That is the key element I am trying to get at with my post. When people pursue their passion, they also need to be able to let their work go. Do it, do it well, and then wash your hands of it. Don't think about it again. Because your beautiful work will be modified before it gets released.... and that's the part people don't talk about. And it still boggles my mind that this is worth $80k/year to people. Not that I'm complaining, or anything! It is nice to make good money for my work. While I agree completely with your sentiments here, I think there is a danger here, too. Elitism. Hipsterism. Clubbiness. There are people who appreciate refined things. Things of unique quality. Things of particular beauty. And these are not the people you will work with on a general basis. Because most people don't have that specific palate to taste the details in your whisky. They are the 90% of the population that they make Jack Daniels for. (The people who make Jack Daniels are not craftsmen, they are manufacturers following a formula and a process.) So... yeah. When we promote the "follow your bliss" story, we need to be intellectually honest with the people we are talking to, and let them know that there is an internal personal journey they need to go on at the same time. They need to learn to let go, to release their work into the wild, to learn that the work they create is going to be the base upon which others build. Not that they are a special snowflake, unique unto the universe. Or, you might come to realize that you've done your job - and beyond that, nothing is your responsibility.
You've been payed not to babysit someone but to write stuff; you did.
Just because someone pours Coca Cola over the amazing whisky that I've made doesn't make my work any less or the drink any worse - it just makes for a person who can't or doesn't want to have a refined taste for alcoholic beverages. And fuck tearing myself a new one over that poor schmuck: that isn't worth it. I'd rather enjoy the fact that I did good, no matter the result, because it's not the result that you're going to live with - it's your part in it.
I agree, and I also think that people should talk about it. It feels like things are being whitewashed for us in the world of comfort: we want the dream and the comfort that comes with it, but not the path and the work to get to it. We better talk about it. From your post, however, I've been getting a rather harsh vibe that doesn't belong to discussing "following your passion". Or, to phrase it better, I think that "following your passion" is a great idea - it's just that it has to be included into a bigger picture of work and what one does with their time and effort. Passion's nice, but there are going to be challenges and there are going to be unpleasant situations - sometimes so unpleasant that you would consider leaving the field of work. We better discuss this, but in a manner that includes both the good and the bad, and how those relate to each other and to other factors. Elitism. Hipsterism. Clubbiness. There is no danger unless you misapply your intent. To complain about people not appreciating the beauty of your work is hipsterish. To understand that not everyone might appreciate what you do to the extent you do is reasonable. Just because I make good stuff doesn't mean everyone will understand how good it is, and if they do, it's a blessing rather than deservance of any sort. Grasp that, and things will go smoother for you. Overall, I think "Follow your passion" is a good message, but it lacks the bit that will make it closer to reality: "Follow your passion despite the stumbles". On your way to where you want to be you will inevitably meet adversity of some sort, be it internal or external, and it's important to understand that the result will always be worth the work as long as what you do fulfills you. It's not to say "Drop everything and pursue this fuzzy irrational idea", of course; it is to say "Do good and feel good about it".When people pursue their passion, they also need to be able to let their work go. Do it, do it well, and then wash your hands of it. Don't think about it again. Because your beautiful work will be modified before it gets released.... and that's the part people don't talk about.
While I agree completely with your sentiments here, I think there is a danger here, too.
Yes. This is the core of the conversation that needs to be had. The deeper conversation behind the meme-like "follow your bliss", or whatever current platitude the meme makers are using today to mask the truth. :-) From your post, however, I've been getting a rather harsh vibe that doesn't belong to discussing "following your passion". Or, to phrase it better, I think that "following your passion" is a great idea - it's just that it has to be included into a bigger picture of work and what one does with their time and effort.