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Comment by wormer | Hacker News Reader

It's so frustrating for me to read things like "I am sad for you". I don't have the option to do what I want; someone has to pay to feed the children and keep the lights on at my village back home. Another commenter said something like "I would do this for free!". Great, you did it for the love of doing it and had the privilege of coming from a background where you can go through college without thinking of money, but I can't, and being talked down to condescendingly about it is infuriating.

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> I don't have the option to do what I want

I was replying to a college student. Someone going to college does have the option of which major.

I am also referring to people in America. I understand that Americans have a lot more opportunities than people in other countries.

You're trapping yourself into a 30-40 year career that you clearly can't make yourself care before you've even started. What exactly do you think is going to happen to you 10-20 years into your career? Growth and advancement are continually expected for an engineer over the course of their career. And the engineering professions aren't large communities; get a reputation as "that mediocre guy that doesn't care about his profession" and it's game over.

And the worst part is that you're doing this to yourself. You won't have anyone else to blame for it.

What do you want to do? If I put together a list of things it'd be hundreds of lines long and at least some of them would be profitable.

I think people aren't baffled by you choosing a high-paying career, but by you not having anything that's both high-paying and interesting. Why electrical engineering and not CS or nuclear or something? Is there nothing at all that both interests you and pays well?

This is the thing that I have the most passion for. I like computers and electronics. But it's dwarfed by other passions that I have that I would much rather be doing. No bills are being paid by me wanting to bike or write in my journal.

And I know it's a sentiment that isn't unique to me, since a lot of my friends from similar backgrounds share this feeling. You choose the major that you can tolerate and also pays well.

you are absolutely right, and I understand you completely.

So you do like it. That is unlike the poster I was responding to.

The poster you are responding to here and the one you responded to first are the same person.

You're right, I missed that. I assumed they weren't because they were contradictory.

> someone has to pay to feed the children and keep the lights on at my village back home.

Why are you solely responsible for this?

Because I have access to education and wealth opportunities that they don't.

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