

Ask YC: Is passion for your field of work important? - nomad

Curious when you are picking projects, is it enough for you to be passionate about hacking towards a great idea or do you also need passion for your particular field of work?<p>For example, I love travel, so if I came across a project for a law firm enterprise solution, I'm not too inclined to take it on even if I think it makes a lot of sense.  I'd rather take on a travel project, even if it makes less $$$.
======
brk
I think passion is very important. Overall, the better your understanding for
the application/use of the work you're doing, the better your overall chances
for success. Having passion for the application and use of the product will
allow you to think about how it will be used, what the users will value the
most, etc.

A recent startup I worked at was trying to create a product that was used for
audit compliance (SOX, PCI, etc.). The problem is that they really didn't have
anyone truly passionate or informed on the subject. The first several versions
of the product greatly reflected this.

------
ken
I once interviewed the industrial design lead at Fluke, who are well-known for
the design of their electronic test equipment. I asked him, "Did you have any
particular desire to work on test equipment when you started?"

He laughed and said "I _still_ don't! I don't even know Ohm's law. I just love
industrial design."

------
nazgulnarsil
News Flash: you don't get paid the big bucks to do things that are interesting
exciting and fun.

Want to work on something you love? great, if you wind up making something
that other people love too you MIGHT make a lot of money.

~~~
lacker
Plenty of people get paid the big bucks to do something interesting, exciting,
and fun!

Consider the founders of YouTube, HotOrNot, reddit - those seem pretty fun to
me.

------
hunterjrj
Hacking with passion towards a great idea will see that idea to fruition, but
passion for your field of work will keep you go going indefinitely.

------
xenoterracide
your product will be better if you are passionate (or really need it
yourself).

------
edw519
It's pretty easy to work on stuff when things are going well.

But when something goes wrong (illness, fatigue, family issues, money issues,
problem with your product/business, etc.), passion is the thing that keeps you
going. You don't know any other way.

