Backpedaling (on architecture)

For perhaps the first few times, I’ve really come to start to question a bit my decision to enter the architecture field at what would be the age of 38. This is fueled largely by some comments emanating from the Asian community which I am a part of that really stresses the importance of striving for high paying professions over passion and interest and purpose–though it’s certainly not everyone. It’s a really interesting phenomenon that happens. Is interest (or purpose for that matter) not important in one’s profession long term? I think it is. I think this is where a lot of the Asian community gets it wrong in terms of work and school, at least here in America. 

It is critical to be both interested in what you do for work and be good at it too, because we spend so much of our waking hours at work and school. Even in the midst of all this backlash, I still feel that I’m starting to question the decision from a financial standpoint. Architecture school will require me to go into a massive debt. It’s not an insurmountable thing to recover from assuming I get good work after I graduate, but 100K or so of debt is not trivial. It would certainly delay my ability to buy a house in the foreseeable future. But then again, I’ve already established that a house will not necessarily make me happy. Rather, having a meaningful career that I enjoy and am good at I think will.