Brain work for me is like muscles for others - if I don’t squeeze out every ounce of energy from my brain with problems all day, I feel like I haven’t lived a full day. Many people prefer good workouts instead, if they don’t their body is punitive with restlessness and sleeplessness. Code is my infinite playground but others won’t touch it - despite me trying to convince them for years. They would rather work in the sun, or with other people, or in a busy environment.
People filter themselves into jobs they would rather do, when they have awareness of the possibilities. With social media that awareness is increasing.
I’ve had friends who had the definition of blue collar standing job and chose to transition to nursing, which is another standing job.
Immigration status and lack of language skills may tie you to standing jobs, but if people want to learn and grow out of them, in the US there are pathways. If someone curates a course on career pathways via youtube and spreads them through immigration centers and schools and social programs that will help even more people find their way.
I find healthcare workers to be an interesting mix in this discussion. Their work is extremely physical and mental, and emotionally draining. Demand for it will only go up. Compensation for it will likely go up. Who picks up the jobs will be enlightening. Yes you have the bottleneck for doctor and nurse training, but CNA and PA are not as limited. Doctor liability is an extreme source of stress, but that somehow doesn’t apply to nurses as much, so even doctors recommend their kids become nurses.
> Brain work for me is like muscles for others - if I don’t squeeze out every ounce of energy from my brain with problems all day, I feel like I haven’t lived a full day. Many people prefer good workouts instead, if they don’t their body is punitive with restlessness and sleeplessness.
I need both.
Too little brain work and my thoughts are racing (unproductively) and my sleep needs fall down to ~4h (happens on vacation) which isn’t actually enough to make me feel rested.
Too little physical activity and I’m restless and can’t focus, can’t sleep, and generally stuff falls apart.
Physical activity is integral to optimal cognitive function and mental performance. Sedentary lifestyles impair our intellectual capabilities regardless of natural talent or education. Research shows regular exercise enhances memory, focus, creativity, and stress management - all crucial for professional success. Healthcare workers actually demonstrate this mind-body connection well: their physically demanding jobs support rather than detract from the complex mental work they perform.
(obv. I don't know you or your routine, whether you move often by default or are not neurotypical, YMMV)
In case you haven't done that before: I suggest an experiment where you try to have a moderate amount of exercise (w few min in zone 2 cardio) before or during a break at work. Do it for 2-3 weeks and see if there's a difference in your cognitive performance.
I'm saying that not only because:
- there's scientific consensus that lack of exercise negatively impacts our cognitive abilities. Your thought sponge is a part of your body; our minds and bodies are not separate systems. *
- At some point I realised I was used to my default mental state (or performance, so to speak), and never noticed how much better I could feel/think after including more exercise in my life.
* many people would agree that Descartes and mind-body dualism is to blame here, at least partially.
Although I can appreciate your point about having some 'innate' desire for an activity like coding, I think this desire is just one of many factors in choice of work.
My own anecdotal experience is that because of several factors, I had to explore many things before I could figure out that I can actually learn to code, enjoy it, create useful things and be (relatively) good at it. All of this was necessary to actually be able to produce some code for a living.
Here's a list of some of the factors that may affect your desire, aside from some innate interest and intelligence:
- Having access to a computer at an early age and in the formative period
- Parental interest in computing and/or STEM
- Parental understanding of computing and/or STEM (informal tutoring)
- Parental pressure/expectations to pursue computing and/or STEM
- Effective teaching of math and computing concepts as a jumping board
- Knowledge of English (given that most programming concepts were defined in English first)
- Early successes and/or rewards in coding/STEM as opposed to non-STEM
- Social valuation of programmers and STEM (i.e., "nerds")
- Parental socioeconomic status
- Number of siblings (e.g., with respect to competition or pressure to leave home early)
- False beliefs ("I'll never be good at math/coding")
- Learning consistency and discipline (i.e., spaced repetition)
- Knowledge of how to learn difficult subjects effectively
- Recognition of fun or social usefulness of coding (with respect to any other pursuit)
- Understanding of implications of choosing particular options (e.g., college prep, career progression) instead of others, at particular stages in life (12-18 years old, with family)
- Familial duties (caring for a parent/sibling, having kids early)
- Sunk cost fallacy (i.e., 3rd year medical school, working vs going back to school)
Again, intelligence and innate desire will play a role, but I think there is nothing genetic about loving to look at some text on a computer. Personally, I met enough intelligent people, STEM and non-STEM, who think they should've just developed a desire for programming because they're burned out, exploited, fatigued and/or underpaid. These aren't implications most could predict when they made significant career choices.
People filter themselves into jobs they would rather do, when they have awareness of the possibilities. With social media that awareness is increasing.
I’ve had friends who had the definition of blue collar standing job and chose to transition to nursing, which is another standing job.
Immigration status and lack of language skills may tie you to standing jobs, but if people want to learn and grow out of them, in the US there are pathways. If someone curates a course on career pathways via youtube and spreads them through immigration centers and schools and social programs that will help even more people find their way.
I find healthcare workers to be an interesting mix in this discussion. Their work is extremely physical and mental, and emotionally draining. Demand for it will only go up. Compensation for it will likely go up. Who picks up the jobs will be enlightening. Yes you have the bottleneck for doctor and nurse training, but CNA and PA are not as limited. Doctor liability is an extreme source of stress, but that somehow doesn’t apply to nurses as much, so even doctors recommend their kids become nurses.