A twenty-six-year-old-private-school-to-Ivy-league-to-MBA-to-BlackRock kid tried to explain his job to me. This friendly young man had more money poured into his upbringing and schooling than 99.9% of people in the history of humanity. And he was also very bright. And yet, the more questions I asked about his work (genuine questions; I wasn't being snarky) the more embarrassed he became. He couldn't explain what he did. He couldn't explain what resulted from his work. He had no answer for why he sought the job, or even why he pursued an MBA. He is just going along despite knowing that work ought to be about more than that.
I didn't mean to make him sad by asking him about his job, but I did. I have no idea how much he's being paid, but it's a lot.
We are, of course, way more than a job. Way more! We are friends, parents, members of a community, etc, etc. Still, if you are giving a huge percentage of your life to a job, you ought to be proud of what you do, and this kid was the opposite of proud.
BTW, the image is from a Harvard career advisor’s “sound tips for excelling at your next interview.”