career vs job

While browsing, I read some article on Job vs. Career. The article differentiated the two of them as: A job is something you do simply to earn money; a career is a series of connected employment opportunities. A job has minimal impact on your future work life, while a career provides experience and learning to fuel your future. A job offers few networking opportunities, but a career is loaded with them. When you work at a job, you should do the minimum without annoying the boss. When you’re in a career, you should go the extra mile, doing tasks beyond your minimum job description.

With all the due respect to the proficient who have written this, I don’t agree with most of it. Can you discriminate a job from a career? Fine you can! I am an engineer by occupation. When I passed my college, industry was in decline so I joined a BPO for a part time job. Working as insurance claim processors was indeed my job, but not a career. A job because I was sure I was here for short term and not long term. So, basically, what I understood from above words is, Job is short term and Career is long term.

My job was undoubtedly not a humdinger for my career, but I used to work very hard, scarcely ever taking my breaks, always looking further for the ways to perk up my effectiveness. And not to reveal, I really excelled in my job, got good hikes and promotions.

So a palpable query that comes to my mind, why I worked so hard? That was a job after all and not career! I think the rationale is not short term vs. long term, but relates more with your standards of life that you your self define for yourself.

Consider it this way! Look at the value you add against the hours you endow at any place. Be it your job or career, you giving it some X hours of your existence every day. If you are not content with it, are you not slaying that part of your life too? Whatever you do and how you do basically reveal how passionate you are in your life and has nothing to do with short term or long term goals. Life is not about what you accomplish at the conclusion of 10 or 20 years, it’s after all how you expend those years.

It’s all in outlook towards the life. You can either wait for holi to get colors and diwali to get light or else you can make every day holi and diwali by adding colors and light in them everyday. It’s all your opinion, and all your life at the end of the day. Happiness, contentment, pleasure, performance is all part of you and not short term and long term goals. So you cannot decide to not give something your best because that’s merely a job for you, can you?

Keep Smiling. :)