

The passionate developer: I do like my profession, I don't like my job - jbandi
http://blog.jonasbandi.net/2009/09/passionate-developer-i-do-like-my.html
Alpha-geeks usually don't (want to) make a difference between their job and their hobby.
In reality I have almost never met a passionate developer, that is really happy with his job.
Why is that?
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jcromartie
I think have become so burnt out that I am now lazy and am not "passionate"
anymore. I think it's because I hear my employers telling me that they want me
to be "passionate" and, like any jerk, I do exactly the opposite. They say to
me: "We want someone who is _passionate_ enough to spend the weekend working
on something cool [that they can then give to us]."

They assume that my passion for code or building things (or whatever it may
be) should translate directly into work for them. This is _especially_ true of
startups. I'm starting to think that I have had _more_ freedom to do what I
want in a boring corporate cube farm. I don't want to work for people that
want to own my 20 self-improvement hours anymore.

So a startup should be about doing it your way. Working _for_ a startup just
means being another cog, doing it someone else's way, except that you are
stuck working insane hours for less money.

~~~
sonofjanoh
Couldn't agree more. I feel the same and sometimes I wonder if I did the right
thing joining a startup. I agree it is different when it is YOUR startup but
on joining one that doesn't have time for your ideas it's pretty painful. In
the evening I am shattered...can't put in the hours for my own stuff and all I
do is watch it die. Biking (to save money) through the city watching the
skyscrapers which housed my office once can't stop me from wondering: wouldn't
it be better or easier if I would be stuck in one of those and having been
paid 5 times as much for a fraction of the work I do now? I could still break
the door at 5:30 and by 6 to do my own stuff relaxed...not mentioning that
between the meetings at starbucks on the top floor I would be planning my work
for home?

If it is your startup that is a different story I think...but I am feeling
burnt out and seriously thinking on taking the easy way cause it might be more
productive...less of a good story maybe but the goal is still there. And a
startup is to reach it...but if it's not your startup it's someone else's tool
and well said: you're just another cog.

~~~
mattm
Same case here. My first job was at MegaCorp but the pay was good and the
hours were great. I would be home by 4:30 with lots of energy and time in the
day left. I left because of the slow work pace and bureaucracy.

Then went to MediumCorp where the pay was less because I thought I would be
happier with the work and would have more opportunity to contribute. I didn't
really find much difference and ended up being unhappy that I was making less.

Now I'm at a new company. I have more influence over my work and no
bureaucracy but I'm still trading time for money. One good thing I've learned
is how fast they get products out there which has been a good lesson for me.

I've also done freelancing full-time which is better in that I get to set my
own hours and work with multiple projects but it is not ideal for me.

After a few years in the workforce, I now think the smart thing to do is to
find a job that pays the most amount of money for the least amount of work so
that I have lots of time and energy left over for working on my own thing.

~~~
coliveira
There is something wrong in a profession in which to do better/more work you
need to make less money...

~~~
mattm
In retrospect I made some poor decisions as a result of my inexperience but I
agree with you. I have found that if you are more productive you are just
given more to do. The X-hour work day is a horrible system for programmers
that tends to lead to mediocrity over time. Unfortunately I don't have a
better solution outside of starting one's own business.

------
hanskuder
Do mechanical and chemical engineers have this much mental anguish over their
professions?

~~~
sofal
I have often wondered that myself. It does seem like engineers have less angst
about it because they have been trained since school to play by all the strict
rules, standards, and best practices that have been drilled into them.

It's possible that software development attracts more creative, nonconformist
people than engineering because there is a much higher barrier for creativity
and self-direction in engineering.

~~~
dasil003
success, failure, performance and ability are all easier to measure in
physical engineering disciplines than in software.

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edw519
_It's very convenient to think that we could realize the perfect solution, if
only we could do things our way..._

Exactly!

Why do you think so many of us want to do start-ups? For the money? The long
hours? The isolation? The family and social conflicts? Hardly.

Many of us are so sick and tired of participating in squandered corporate
opportunities that we are _frustrated_ into doing it our own way. We are
right. And eventually, we _have_ to do it our way.

Nothing selfish about it. Precisely the opposite. Who wants to go through life
wondering what they _could have given_?

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ams6110
The word "passionate" has become a meaningless corporate buzzword

