I just graduated with a master's degree in electrical and electronic engineering, and since four years ago when I picked this degree, lots of things have changed. I don't enjoy the degree the same way I used to, and after doing a 9-5 ten-week internship, it made me hate it even more.
My biggest dream would be to become a big writer and get my stuff adapted into movies and TV shows. I've been writing for a year in various mediums (manga and novels), and I'm currently writing my first novel and hope to send it to agents late next year. I will also look into screenwriting after my novel.
But I know the odds are very low, and most writers don't break out until 4-5 books, and even then, only ten percent of writers can make it a full-time thing, and less than 1% will become huge IP like Harry Potter. But regardless, I still want to try. I don't have anything to lose, and I want to die knowing I did everything I could for my dream rather than have regrets.
But what am I meant to do in the meantime? My parents are putting so much pressure on me to get a 9-5 engineering job, but I don't want to. But what choice do I have? My parents are getting old and can't work forever.
I hate 9-5 so much, and it makes me so depressed based on my ten-week internship. Firstly, 9-5 is the biggest lie ever; it's more like 7-7 when you count travel time. Secondly, by the time you get home, you're so exhausted from the day that you just want to eat and go to sleep so you can get 7 hours of sleep for the next day, meaning I won't have time for my writing or any hobbies or time for my social life. Thirdly, it's just soulless; every day you go do the same thing, and you could easily be seen as a number. It feels like there's no purpose to it apart from surviving paycheck to paycheck. My biggest concern in life is having a purposeless life; I want to leave a legacy and be someone, and I want to do it through my writing the same way J.K. Rowling did for Harry Potter. Fourthly, the salary is so bad in the UK; it starts at like 25K to 35K, which is so bad. Like electrical engineering takes so much brainpower and skill, and it's mentally exhausting and challenging, but we get paid 25K-35K. By the time you pay rent, bills, and food in this living crisis economy, you have nothing, and then you have to go next month to work to rinse and repeat. And it takes decades to increase it to 50-70K. Lastly, I just don't like the environment; it's full of senior engineers, and only a few graduates, meaning I will always feel alone and isolated since I can't bond with anyone there.
People might say do a 9-5 and 6-10 writing, but it's not that easy. You don't come home till late, because like I said, it's not 9-5, and you have to eat, etc., and are exhausted. Many people in my internship told me the same thing, that they come in thinking they would leave when their side hustle takes off, and then 20 years went by in the blink of an eye, and they're still working there. It made me feel so sick when people were telling me that. What about if that happens to me?
Any suggestions on what to do next career-wise? I don't want to be a 9-5 slave forever. But I do want to start having my own money, as living with my parents is really toxic at times and of course I need money to level up in other aspects of life.