Does having a career totally unrelated to writing or literature negatively impact your ability to write...

Does having a career totally unrelated to writing or literature negatively impact your ability to write? I just graduated college and am about to start working as a network engineer. I'm afraid that I'll slip into a routine of just focusing on work and spending my free time recovering instead of reading and writing enough to be competitive with someone who does nothing but write. I've thought about trying to become a technical writer so that I'm at least spending time writing, but I don't know if writing technical documents written in the simplest language possible would help me write literature.

How often did you do independent creative or stimulating work when you were cramming for exams for courses you didn't care about? That should be a good indicator.

I solved this by forgetting about network engineering after graduation, never getting a real job, becoming a neet, and studying literature.

>Not being mentally ill like all great writers and making irrational self-destructive choices

>MFW could be working in field there is shortage of workers while paying taxes but am instead draining the public purse

>Does having a career totally unrelated to writing or literature negatively impact your ability to write?
It gives you things to write about other than writing itself, as well as money so you don't die of starvation.

Yeah OP there are network engineering jobs where you setup some really specific system and travel around a shitton. That might be good if you're looking for inspiration for writing.

Once my boss realized I can write (after I drafted a letter to a potential client/contractor) he put me on social media duty and had me writing "press releases" that were effectively marketing copy, which was fucking miserable.

>but I don't know if writing technical documents written in the simplest language possible would help me write literature.
It doesn't sound like you know a lot about writing anyway. If you want to be a writer you should arrange your life to meet this goal. If you want to be a regular dude who sometimes writes, then keep doing what you're doing.

read this

I hope not, because I'm studying to become a Psychiatrist but my dream is to write fiction.

Kicking your own ass over shit like this is useless. Western society generally assumes a huge internal locus of control, but fact of the matter is that some people simply do not conform to the expectations of modern society.

Who knows, you might have made a good Roman or Mongol.

t. trust fund baby who's never had a real job in his life

I can barely write a Veeky Forums post by the time I get home.

Also, about the concept of easy jobs... think about it. If you flake out in your job (pretend to work but write all day), why are you getting paid? You're still a parasite. Furthermore you won't last in the long run. Employers typically do not like to shell out money uselessly. You're digging your own grave by not working hard to advance your position, skills, and career. You are becoming future NEET.

a man with no passion who lives in fear issues punishment in the guise of advice. A manque, a manque. My friend, my friend, please go read a book.

It can uniquely inform your writing in different ways that people who have spent their whole lives writing would never be able to replicate.

Conan Doyle's work as a physician informed his mystery writing, Coupland by his work in Silicon Valley and Bukowski by his time in the post office. Unconventional jobs offer you a unique chance.

The trick I find is doing your writing BEFORE work I stead of after. Your creativity and energy will be higher before you slave away in an uncreative job for 8+ hours.
I wake up at 5 and do all my personal creative work before going in to work at 8.

This is the key. Save the cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping for after work and do your reading/studying beforehand.

Spending all your time around other artists is the most damaging thing you can do. Go to an open mic comedy night in a big city like Chicago or New York. It's stand up comedians who have only played in bars around other stand ups and their jokes revolve around why a certain club is stupid and make references only their circle of friends will dig.

Go to a poetry slam if you want to see an art entirely contained in a closed community of people who are creating the art. You desperately need exposure to something outside of you discipline, only jump into the business once you've got a point of view and style that's defined enough to survive.

In most cases, yes, but not necessarily. See: Wallace Stevens.

If this is true then you're better off being NEET.

No...My job has actually inspired story I've been working on. Thank god my job is completely unrelated to writing

Bad example for "literature" I suppose, but:
>Stephen King, Carrie, janitor and clothes washer, later general ed schoolteacher

There is literally no purpose for people to write anything more. Everything great has already been written.

Melville was a whaler in his youth. Kafka was a banker. Hemingway drove ambulances.

You are actually less likely to be able to write anything of worth if you've never had any interesting experiences.

Of course, since you're an engineer, you'll be sitting in front of a computer all day doing boring as shit work that will make you depressed. So in your case I'd say you are actually fucked.

I'm a network engineer and spend most of my time at work either reading it drawing off. I'd say i only spend about 10% of my time working.

quick rundown on the education and experience you needed to get that job?

There is a common starting point

In regards to experience there isn't really any experience that's relevant beyond actually having experience in the field. PC repair experience really is not relevant whatsoever.

You should either take a classroom or build a small home lab to show you have experience. You really don't need more than a small one and if you want to pass exams learning on simulators is actually more useful, Cisco Packet Tracer in perticular is useful for passing the CCNA, and Cisco VIRL or GNS3 in later exams.

However building a small home lab shows to employers you both have a strong interest in the field + you've actually worked with the real equipment. Real equipment runs into issues all the time that never come up in simulators like problems with the physical wiring, so if somebody trains exclusively on simulators, they will be unprepared to deal with said issues in the real world.

You need to have a strong grounding in basic computer skills, you can't be somebody who struggles with basic tasks in windows and linux.

It's actually a bit of a trick to get started in the field because networking equipment tends to be essential to business continuity, so a junior network admin coming up and fucking up the network can easily completely cut a businesses profits to zero. New network admins aren't worth it even if they're working for peanuts due to this risk for many employers. It's good to know somebody who will give you a start.

'preciate this post bruv. ty much love

Do cisco courses and Microsoft courses, if you become a share point architect you will be set for life