Is my salary my worth? Olivia Barrow.

My name is Olivia Barrow, and I have career envy.
What’s career envy? It’s kind of like entree envy -- you read the menu, you think about your past experiences, and you pick your order, but as soon as the food comes, you want whatever your partner is having.

It’s not that your entree isn’t also delicious, but when you actually got to see the two steaming in front of you side-by-side on the table, there’s this sinking feeling you can’t shake that you made the wrong choice.
Maybe this sounds like a “grass is greener” feeling, but I think there’s more to it.
When I was in high school, my parents encouraged me to pursue whatever career I wanted, but in their limited experience, engineering was the best. They both have master’s degrees in electrical engineering.

They wanted me to get a degree that could immediately land me a job, and ideally a good-paying job, and they knew I was smart enough to excel in engineering. I gritted my teeth through all A’s in AP Physics, Calculus I and Calculus II, and -- aside from the inevitable satisfaction of getting a good grade and overcoming adversity -- I hated every minute.
So, instead of becoming an engineer, I pursued a career in writing, after learning that the public university 15 minutes down the road from my parents’ house was one of the top four schools in the country for journalism.
I always tell people that the writing sucked me in, but the reporting made me stay. In print journalism, you don’t get the chance to write anything memorable unless you do a lot of legwork -- networking, poring over documents, scanning meeting agendas, finding sources, coordinating interviews, attending events and asking the right questions. Then, just maybe, you’ll have enough time to put together a story that you can feel proud of, but so much of the time, writing feels like an afterthought.
This is one of the main reasons why I blog on LinkedIn. Because even after a full day as a newspaper reporter, writing and publishing stories, I often don’t feel like I’ve actually “written” anything.
Both reporting and writing are extremely challenging, and mastering them requires 100 percent of my intelligence. It’s not for lack of mental stimulation that I’m left imagining alternate-universe career paths for myself.
Disclaimer: I’m six months into my new beat, it’s the deep doldrums of winter here in Milwaukee, and I’m starting to hit a wall, both in my professional and social life. So perhaps that’s coloring this post, and fueling my wandering career aspirations.
Fifteen minutes in the other direction from my parents house growing up, was another public university with many engineering programs ranking among the top 10. I don’t think my parents know this, but I contemplated becoming an engineer all throughout high school. It nagged at me constantly. I assumed I’d finally put those thoughts to bed when I chose UNC’s School of Journalism, but it turns out that three and a half years of making less than half of what I could be making as an engineer, with the same amount of education at the exact same cost, leaves me with some questions.
I have no student loans and I save aggressively, so financially I’m better off than 90 percent of my peers, even many engineers. But I can’t help it. I still value myself by. my. salary. When I’m at the top of my game as a journalist, I can see the direct impact my job has on people’s lives, helping them to grow their business and plan for the future. But it doesn’t help.
I constantly face the question: Do I like journalism enough to justify earning so far below my potential?
I ask a lot of experienced executives to tell me the hardest business decision they’ve ever made. The answer comes in different words, but the gist is often: “Leaving a career that you’re really good at in search of one you’ll really love.” They don’t usually say, “Leaving a career you love for one that pays the bills.” Conclusion? Maybe this is a stretch, but I think the kind of successful, inspiring people who end up with a Milwaukee Business Journal reporter dogging them with trite questions didn’t get to that point by chasing a higher salary for the money’s sake.
I’m not ready to leave journalism. I came to Wisconsin intending to give this beat my all for four years, with an open slate after that. Three-and-a-half more years feels like an eternity when you’re 24, but I know in 10 years it will feel as much a blip as my three years at UNC. So I’m working on viewing this period as analogous to my stint in college: a dedicated time to drink richly of every opportunity afforded me as a reporter -- to glean as much career advice, life advice and practical knowledge from the dozens of brilliant entrepreneurs that I meet in any given month, the successful executives I interview and the awe-inspiring women who mentor me, whether through regular calls or over an occasional drink.
KINGSMITH.