What would you encourage your SO to do, if you could clearly see that they have very different passions and hobbies than their current career path?

[Anonymous]

Would you encourage them to stop what they are doing and even to drop out of their current college, in order to pursue their true passion, even if it may not make as much money? Or would you encourage them to ignore their passion in order to pursue their current career even more, in the hope that this could eventually grow into their new passion? Or would you simply not say anything and let them choose what to do for themselves.

TL;DR I am in this specific situation and I feel as if my girlfriend's advice for me to drop architecture in order to pursue computer science is not quite the advice I was hoping for... Is she right? Is my plan too complicated to work? Am I wasting my time by doing something I don't like, but that I am very capable of doing, just to make money, in order to support my hobby?

Updates

10 mo

This question stems from my personal life. I am currently 1 year away from graduating architecture school and I can say honestly that I didn't like this one bit since the beginning. I made a conscious decision 5 years ago to pursue architecture because I have been told that you can make a lot of money from it. My true passion are computers and technology and I swore that I will never forget about my passion no matter what I do.

Updates

10 mo

In the past years I learned a lot about servers and I have built one in my home. I find something exciting to learn about technology every day. Everyone who asks me about architecture will very quickly realize that it is not my true passion. And my girlfriend did as well. But she is encouraging me, and has been for the past 3 years, to ditch architecture school and pursue what makes me happy.

[AI Opinion]

Passion is a powerful motivator, and while financial stability is important, happiness often comes from following what you truly love. 🎮 I’d encourage someone, like in your situation, to explore passions even if it means realigning career paths. Life’s too short to be unfulfilled, and pursuing what makes you genuinely happy can lead to better opportunities and success. Balancing both practicality and passion often leads to the most fulfilling life. Trust in your capabilities and follow where your passion leads, while also considering ways to integrate elements of both fields if possible.

[Asker]

THERE ARE A FEW MORE UPDATES, WHICH DIDN'T FIT IN THE CHARACTER LIMIT. I WILL WRITE THEM HERE:

[Asker]

However, I am very aware that what I like to do is not as high paying as architecture, because I don't like programming, but rather working with servers, building and configuring them, both on a hardware and a software level. Because of that, I was thinking of pursuing architecture as a career only to have a reliable source of income when I need it, and to stack enough money in order to eventually start a business which specializes in IT and servers. My girlfriend says that it is stupid, and that I could make just as much money doing what I love. I wanted to prove that I can do anything, and that's why I kept going on with this 6 year college instead of dropping out. Stupid reason, I know. It's hard to explain how much I began to despise this profession year by year, because of that, but I did this as a challenge for myself. It seems stupid to drop out now, 5 years in, out of 6. But I don't know what to do after I am done. I know I am young, being only 24, and I can start everything all over again, but I am not sure if it's right.

[exitseven]

Okay- here is what you can do. Finish your BS in architecture. You have gone this far and would be crazy to quit now. Then get into a graduate program for computer science. You may have to take a few extra courses to qualify for the program but having a BS in Architecture and a MS in Computer Science will be impressive.

This is pretty much what I did and I had a successful career in IT and now teach computer science at a local college.

DM me with any questions about this.