The "I Love My Job" Crowd

I love my job. State Department. There's obvious benefits: free rent, pension at 50, never get itchy feet because I change portfolios and countries every 2-3 years and I've never had a terrible portfolio, tons of travel, lots of vacation, federal health insurance plan, job security, paid to learn languages, etc. but mostly I think I love my job because I believe in the mission and in public service. I'm not saying things are all gravy in the US or that I'm blindly patriotic, but nothing has made me appreciate America more than being overseas.

I like having an impact on people's lives, on policies occasionally, living in countries I knew nothing about before this job, and building relationships with people. My colleagues for the most part are clever and well-informed people who can appreciate a good foreign policy joke, a level of nerdism not often seen outside DC. Most of them who truly love the job love it for the reasons I've listed above.

If I was FI, I'd probably be willing to do it without a salary depending on the specific job and the country. I'd like knowing that I don't HAVE to do it though. I stumbled into the job mostly by blanket applying anything that looked like it would hire an international affairs major. Turns out I got lucky.

Personally I think those who love their jobs are probably the lucky ones. It probably makes it a lot easier if you have a mission or ideology that jives with you and you can understand how your work contributes to it vs. just doing a job so you don't starve to death.

/r/financialindependence Thread