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Comment by galfarragem | Hacker News Reader

By experience, the answer is quite easy: when both have the same occupation it gets boring very fast. It's much more enriching having the opportunity to learn about a different field than coming home and continue to listen about the same.

Rationally I would never pick somebody from the same field as me.

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That strikes me as a very general and blanket assumption. To me the correct answer, as so often, seems to be...it depends. Mostly on how both parties handle the situation of having very similar interests, which might as well be a blessing.

yes and no... my fiancee is an internal doctor, and let me tell you, we have it damn easy behind the desks and computers. nothing really important at stake, no risk of killing somebody and ending up in jail because of some simple mistake under heavy stress, after 10 hours at work, say at 5 am.

seeing people dying and suffering will change you, especially the young ones. a lot of those stories is not something you actually want to listen to after hard day at work...

> nothing really important at stake

Speak for yourself..

> when both have the same occupation it gets boring very fast.

It gets boring even when your occupations are so alien to each other, that there's little you can share beyond bog-standard office gossip.

If the occupations are so alien to each other probably you wouldn't be attracted by that person to start with. If your SO is eg. an hairdresser probably it is boring but if her occupation is something you would like to know more about, it's not. As an anecdote, my ex was making a thesis in International Relations and at the same time she was taking a Spanish Philology course. I can say to you that I learnt a LOT just by being nearby.

Eh, we just don't talk about it.

My fiance works in a t-shirt printing shop and I work as a developer. I enjoy hearing about his work, he enjoys hearing about mine but we know neither of us could do what the other does.

Or just don't spend too much time talking about work? I find there are plenty of other things to talk about. :)

Both my wife and I are scientists (neither of us are working as scientists) and I love this. It is fantastic to be able take a background knowledge base for granted.

Probably what you like is that she is smart enough to understand what you say. That doesn't imply that she has to be a scientist.

While I do love that my wife is a smart, I think her being a scientist is more than just this. I have a base of assumed knowledge that makes conversations much more enjoyable.

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