Passion and Profession

From An interview with Dr Ben Goldacre

I have a deep-rooted prejudice which is that if people can talk fluently in everyday language about their job, it strongly suggests that they have fully incorporated their work into their character. They feel it in their belly. There are people with whom you talk about technical stuff and it almost feels like they can only talk about it in a very formal way with their best work face on - as if the information they are talking about has not penetrated within.

I love talking with people that are knowledgeable about their profession. It’s even better if they’re passionate about it. There’s something interesting in every job and you can get the most interesting information if you just ask - builders, surgeons, personal assistants, teachers, and of course IT professionals.

If I ever interview you, know that passion about our profession carries quite some weight… but you don’t need to plan ahead. If you’ve got it, it comes out, and if you don’t then that comes out too, even if you try to manufacture it ¹