Audalogy

Every single time I’ve had a choice between two different job options, I’ve always taken the one with lower pay. Always, as in 100% of the time, and there have been three times. How long this trend will continue remains to be known. What is certain is that for the first few years of my career I will have to continue making this decision by turning down more lucrative job offers.

I know that some of my friends always go for the higher pay. It’s an easy decision for them. Take the job that is more selective and pays better. Really the future exit opportunities or actual job responsibilities don’t matter much. It is kind of assumed that a higher paying job would offer both of those. Although that can be true, I have been raised to think otherwise. The way I see it is that the higher paying jobs need to do so in order to attract the better candidates. They know they have fewer intangible rewards to offer, which is why they must offset that with the more attractive pay or signing bonus. But of course, it could also be likely that the job really is more challenging and offers better exit opps — it could depend on whether the jobs being compared are in industry or service or other.

Anyway, hopefully my “investment” in the future will pay off and it won’t be in vain. So far, I haven’t seen any real future benefits with taking a pay cut, except personal interests of getting more varied exposure and experiences.

The one upside is that by not focusing on working for the money, I may derive more personal satisfaction from my job. The reason I go to work won’t be for that extra dollar, and I won’t be counting the hours that I stay overtime. This is because the reason why I work is to learn and experience something different. Since the pay isn’t a real incentive to begin with, the money is immaterial.