Finding a Job You Love

You are pursuing one of the toughest and best majors in Smeal. You will come out of college making $60k. Everyone is going to want to hire you and you are going to be so successful, making your way up in the ranks of a leading Fortune 500 company.

This is what I am told when I tell people that I am majoring in Actuarial Science. Sure, one of the reasons I chose not to major in Accounting or Finance is because Actuaries are fewer in numbers and they are still highly respected. The prospects of making a decent salary are good and that is honestly one of the reasons I chose not to go into something like education. I am not looking to become a millionaire but to be able to send all of my future children to whatever colleges they want to go to is definitely something I want to be able to afford. Oh, and I love math and stat (I know, I know… I’m weird). I am good at what I do and as far as math and stat go, I am really interested in the material I learn in my classes. But today I was talking to one of my coworkers and I wonder if I will really love my future job and be happy with the work I will do for the next 40 years of my life.

Matt, a Graphic Design major in the College of Arts and Architecture, works for the RIIT Group. Among other things, he creates various images for the Smeal College of Business - whether they be used on websites or on iTunesU. He showed me some of his creations and wow, I am jealous of his talent! He even took two minutes to show me a quick “demo” on how to create one of his masterpieces — TWO MINUTES! Matt loves what he does and it seems like he really has fun. He gets to be creative and his job is never the same from day to day.

When I was in middle school I enjoyed using PhotoShop (granted I only knew the basics) and I wanted to be a graphic artist. I once told my mom that I wanted to work for Hallmark and design their greeting cards (you can laugh). But as I grew up I kind of labeled that idea as “unrealistic” and committed myself to becoming a business student at Penn State. I had enjoyed art but because I never considered myself outstanding in that arena, and because I spent my free time playing sports rather than making art, I figured I didn’t have what it took to pursue graphic design in college. I knew that going into Actuarial Science would mean working in an office everyday with relatively fewer opportunities for creativity.

I am excited for my actuarial internship this summer and for the career that lies in my future, but I just wonder and HOPE that I will love my job and feel passionate about what I do. But isn’t that what everyone wants? Isn’t that what everyone strives for in life - “success” and happiness? I guess it is just something I will have to continually strive for and try to find in the years ahead.