Building A Career In Tech: Is Passion Enough?

5 min readJul 6, 2022

We’ve all heard the saying, “Follow Your Dream”, but what if you die of hunger in the process?

A few weeks ago, I attended a community connect by Abia Tech Hub in Umuahia. The topic of the discussion that day was “Finding your Niche in Tech”

Well, the discussion got heated very quickly.

The bone of contention was a question as old as time. When choosing a tech niche, should you go for something you’re passionate about or something that will pay you quickly?

The house was divided on this. One faction insisted that you must pursue your dreams. The other half said that you must first go for money because dreams do not pay bills.

The meeting came to a close and we all went home, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about this issue. Why are people so particular about passion? And why do some people utterly detest the word?

So let’s talk about passion.

What Is Passion and Why Does It Matter?

A lot of people mistake interest for passion. When you have an interest in a particular niche, you’re eager to learn about it and it could evolve into a hobby. The thing with interests is that they could just be temporary, something you enjoy doing for the moment.

Passion, however, goes way beyond just a hobby.

The Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines passion as “ a strong desire for or a devotion to some activity, object or concept.” In other words, you are passionate about anything you are willing to suffer for.

Learning any tech skill takes time, and you may not be enthusiastic about doing the same thing over and over again, especially if you keep making mistakes in your learning journey. What makes you continue to persevere, regardless of how you feel, is Passion.

But this raises more questions: How are you sure that what you think is your passion is your passion?

What if you’re passionate about a lot of things?

And, what if you’re not passionate about anything at all?

Less Worrying, More Working

We tend to overthink things, or at least I do. Do you see those three questions above? I have asked myself those questions at least once a day in many variations.

As a kid, I thought I was born to be a singer, dancer, actor, and many other things. As I grew up and I didn’t have any special gifts, I felt terrible. I knew people who were phenomenal with musical instruments, pros at graphics design, and other cool stuff. But me, I was just average in everything.

I then made the mistake that almost everyone who overthinks about these three questions makes: I got stuck in analysis paralysis, unable to get to a firm decision because I kept overanalyzing the problem to no end.

The solution to this, as far as I know, is to find something to do and keep doing it.

The more you work on something, the more you evolve and it becomes a passion. Sometimes evolution means that you’ll move to a different skill. There’s no problem, keep walking. As my mom would say, “you learn things by doing them”.

What About the $$$?

Learning anything worthwhile takes time. It might take years for your tech skill to translate into serious money, so what do you do in the meantime?

Well, this is a great dilemma. Life is funny like that: sticking us between where we are and where we want to be.

And yes, money is really important when thinking about your tech career, especially if you live in my part of the world.

One of the things that made me realize I could write was when someone paid me money for something I thought was quite ‘normal’. I thought everyone could write so I was amazed when I got paid for writing something I could do for free.

You don’t have to do what you love, you just have to love what you do.

So yes, money was one of my motivations for getting serious with my content writing career.

Do you need to resign from your job or drop out of school so you can focus on your passion?

If you’re from a family that can support you financially while you pursue your dreams, or you’ve saved up money over time so you can retire/resign and do what you love, then good for you! However, if you’re a lower-middle-class Nigerian with a single parent and five siblings, you had better not try it.

It’s not fair, I know. You have to work with what you have.

You can go to school or continue working on what pays the bills while you work on your dreams in your spare time. You can even choose to do a job you hate in the meantime, so you can have enough funds to retire and focus on your passion later in life. You don’t have to do what you love, you just have to love what you do. Who knows, that job you hate now can become your passion as you get better at it.

Conclusion

In case you were wondering which side I was on during that debate, I was on the ‘passion’ side.

However, I kept wondering whether I would have been this serious in my content writing career if I did not get paid for it. Does this mean writing is not my passion? That doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I keep moving, learning, and evolving.

That’s when I realized the ‘other side’ had a point as well.

While it’s great to have a defining drive; something that gets your brain firing and your blood pumping, it’s even better to have something that feeds your belly while you feed your passion.

Be careful before you make any drastic decisions because it could have terrible consequences for you, your family, and your mind.

And you need a sound mind to execute your passion.

Oh wait, there’s more!

If you live in Umuahia, Abia State or its environs and you’re wondering how to build a career in tech, then you should attend TechFlock 2022, hosted by Abia Tech Hub on the 29th and 30th of July, 2022.

It’s a meeting where the best tech minds in the region meet and share ideas. This meeting will give you the clarity you need for your tech career.

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog