𝐈𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭? Ever wondered if we put too much pressure on ourselves to "follow our passion"? But that doesn't mean we shouldn't look for work that interests us. Let me share my story. 𝐈𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 My father worked at BHEL, and like most middle-class families, he kept the savings spread across various public sector banks - the classic 'safe' approach. As a teenager, I was the bank errand runner, spending hours in queues: withdrawing money, updating passbooks, dealing with signature mismatches, missing staff, and endless paperwork. I could not believe how something as basic as banking could be so frustratingly complex and time-consuming. 𝐌𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐭𝐦 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤 I applied at Paytm. During my Paytm interview, they asked what I knew about the company. I mentioned reading about their new Payments Bank license. The next thing I knew, I was one of the first members of the team building Paytm Payments Bank! I worked with a small team building a digital bank that could bring underserved Indians to the mainstream economy for the next 3 years. Those were some of my best years at work. After Paytm, I kept working on interesting problems in Fintech. At Ridlr, I worked on the National Common Mobility Card (solving the traffic problem through fintech). At MMTC-PAMP, it was Digital Gold. At Niyo, I worked on a travel-focused bank. 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 After Paytm, I joined Ridlr to help eliminate metro station queues through QR-based ticketing and one card that would work across all transport modes. Eventually solve traffic problem in cities. Not all problems I wanted to solve became part of my work. I read about two people dying at a Ghazipur landfill near my home in Noida. Like people can die because of garbage? (https://lnkd.in/gMXfUeD2) I wanted to work on waste management but never got the chance but once came very close to working on it. Then came insurance - buying it was painful, claiming it was worse. While I never got to fix this professionally, I did explore solutions during a course project. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 Funny enough, I recently went to SBI to close a joint account with my grandfather. Nothing had changed in 20 years! Maybe I was naive and idealistic in thinking I could fix banking or solve public transport problems. That's okay. Keep your eyes open, read more, meet interesting people, learn from your experiences, and notice problems that frustrate you or others. You will find your passion. #RealTalk #FinTech #Banking #CareerLessons #PersonalGrowth Did you start with your passion or discover it while working? Or maybe we're thinking too much about finding passion in our work? Share your thoughts in the comments!