What makes for a dream job?

I've been in this personal journey for a while now. I've had multiple learning over the past 2 years of working, and much more over the past few months of being on a break to think about what my dream career looks like. I've jotted down my thoughts + notes from resources I went through to answer this question for myself. I thought it might be useful for other folks as well.

About my Journey

I've been working full-time for a couple of years now. I've switched between 3-4 companies at the time of writing this. It may seem surprising considering I'm only 22 - but the decisions were contingent on my life at the time and what I wanted from work. I've learnt quite a bit about myself and what I want from work and the people I work with through my experiences, and I'm continuing on that journey :)

Personal Learning

• I enjoy working in teams
• I derive a lot of satisfaction from knowing the work I do is making a difference - and that I'm part of a larger mission.
• I enjoy seeing the real results of my work being implemented.

Note: I understand many things may not be implemented eventually. But, one thing I like about working in product, is seeing my ideas come to life. This is much rarer in say a field like marketing, where my ideas simply result in numbers, rather than real changes. Technically, it may be a "real result" to somebody else, just that it didn't feel that way to me, unfortunately.

Major Resources Utilised:

• Paul Millerd's The Pathless Path
• https://80000hours.org/
• Lots and lots of self-reflection

Finally, I haven't and I don't think I'll ever find what brings me the most satisfaction forever in a career - because I'm sure I'll keep evolving as a person. But I'd like to find some answers over my lifetime. Hence, this page will always be a work in progress for me to document these things for myself.

Notes

To find a dream job, look for:

1. Work you’re good at.
2. Work that helps others.
3. Supportive conditions: engaging work that lets you enter a state of flow, supportive colleagues, lack of major negatives like unfair pay, and work that fits your personal life.

Money May not be that Important Beyond a certain point.

High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being, D. Kahneman and A. Deaton, 2010, link

• Ideally, I think personally if I can get most things I need without worrying if I have enough in my bank account - I'd be pretty happy.

Having a very undemanding job is bad — that’s boring. Having demands that exceed your abilities is bad too: they cause harmful stress. The sweet spot is where the demands placed on you match your abilities — that’s a fulfilling challenge.

Helping others isn’t the only route to a meaningful career, but it’s widely accepted by researchers that it’s one of the most powerful.

Since good relationships are such an important part of having a fulfilling life, it’s important to be able to become friends with at least a couple of people at work. And this probably means working with at least a few people who are similar to you.

• Realised this is quite important for me. One of the places I worked at, I had barely ever had a non-work related conversation with anybody at work. Not that they were bad folks or anything, I just never related to any of them.

To be satisfied, everything above is important. But you also need the absence of things that make work unpleasant. All of the following tend to be linked to job dissatisfaction.

A long commute, especially if it’s over an hour by bus, Very long hours, Pay you feel is unfair, Job insecurity.

• Didn't think too much before hand, but this is definitely going to be a big thing I look out for, in my next job!