

If you wouldn't do your job for FREE, then QUIT. - dfuhriman
http://www.bernmedical.com/1/post/2011/08/if-you-wouldnt-do-your-job-for-free-then-quit.html

======
daimyoyo
I have read some bad advice here before, but this ranks among the worst. I
would like nothing more than to spend my days sleeping in and my nights
creating the next Angry Birds but I live in the real world. There's 14%
unemployment here. I don't have my pick of jobs and until I have a major win
with the software I create, odds are I won't. I'm very glad that this person
has a Utopian philosophy that everyone should only do what they're truly
passionate about, but here on Earth that isn't the case for 99.99% of society.

~~~
Vitaly
I think you are taking it way too literally and narrow. I might not have
chosen to work at this specific customer project if they wouldn't pay ;), but
I would definitely program in my spare time if I had a non programming job.
So, fo me, I do for the living what I would do for free anyway.

------
wccrawford
If you would do your job for free, you're an idiot and I don't want you on my
team.

I've liked almost every job I've ever had, and loved some of them. I would
never have done any of them for free.

Even when I was volunteering during high school, I got free food and discounts
on parts.

~~~
TomOfTTB
I think you're missing the point. My take on what he's saying is "If you had a
billion dollars and money was absolutely no object would you still do your
job". Hence the "remember when you were 12" line calling back to a time when
money is not a primary concern.

~~~
wccrawford
No, I got that. And I still wouldn't work for free.

Even if I worked for myself, I'd expect my efforts to reward me.

~~~
TomOfTTB
There are plenty of rewards that aren't monetary. The author isn't saying you
should work in a job that provides no benefits. He's saying the benefit of
money shouldn't be the primary one because other benefits (like fulfillment)
are more important.

So the point of the mental exercise is to help you find a job that is
worthwhile regardless of the money you're paid to do it. So you'd still be
rewarded for your efforts just not in money (which again wouldn't mean
anything to you anyway if you had a billion dollars in the bank)

~~~
gorbachev
Those rewards won't buy me or my kids food, or pay the mortgage.

I get the larger point the advice is supposed to make, but I'm sorry, I will
never work for free.

I will quit working, if I ever become wealthy enough to afford it, and I would
tinker on my own "for free", but I wouldn't call it work at that point.

~~~
faisdotal
In reply to your last line: <http://vimeo.com/26336202>

~~~
gorbachev
That's him. I'm not him.

I've got dozens of ideas that I've never had time to work on, because of long
work hours and taking care of kids. I could work on those for years, easily.
Some of them might become "work", if they caught on, but for the most part I'd
be satisfying my curiosity and want to learn new things.

~~~
faisdotal
Fair enough.

------
semanticist
I wonder if anyone really loves working for McDonald's, or if this kind of
advice is only supposed to apply to privileged middle-class (and above) folks?

~~~
TomOfTTB
Some jobs are a way of working yourself up to the job you'd do for free and
that's what a McDonalds job is to people who aren't stuck in it. If I were the
author I'd make that an addendum.

~~~
pessimizer
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_end_job>

------
kerryiob
This sense of entitlement and immaturity, especially considering how lucky we
are to even have jobs where we sit in front on computers all day, drives me
crazy.

I think the world of startups is unfortunately filled with youth that expect
candy and fun and complain when it isn't, all the while making enough money to
put them in the top %10 of salaried wage earners on earth.

Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing more Marines in startups. Running up steep
mountains in sub-zero temps while being shot at after not sleeping for a week,
on top of being hungry would give you some perspective on what to complain
about.

------
kgtm
_So what did I love doing when I was 12? Playing soccer. But as I explored
what it was that I loved about soccer, I loved being the best player on the
team. I loved leading the team. I loved playing creatively, doing the
unexpected. I loved quickly finding solutions to problems on the field and
planning tactics before the game to get an advantage. I loved practice and
constantly improving. Now I do the same things that I loved when I was 12- but
I do them with tech companies._

This greatly reminded me of Randy Pausch's last speech [1]. Please, if you
haven't seen it already, you should find some time, today.

As for the author's points, it seems like some people are missing the point.
He is not saying you should work for free. He is saying that if you involve
yourself professionally in something you are deeply passionate about,
something you would enjoy doing in your free time, everything else will come.
And by everything else one means fulfillment, expertise and inevitably money.

You are better off seeking that something sooner rather than later. Hence,
quit now. Find in. Enjoy it. Make money.

My 0,02 €.

[1] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo>

------
rpwilcox
I almost feel like saying, "If you _would_ do your job for free, quit", just
to be flamebait-ey.

Hewever, I think there's a level of professionalism that comes with getting
paid (ie: you feel bad slacking off reading HN), but if you're working for
free, then I can see it turning into: "Hey, let's try framework Z, because it
looks like fun!" (not because of client requirements). "OH LOOK, HASKELL ON A
HORSE! I've never written Haskell, but let's try it for the Foo subsystem!"

Yes, this is too simplistic, ie the open source community. Usually when I work
on open source stuff it falls out of client work (I want X to be better, I
found a bug in Y, etc).

Then again, I've been a contractor for the last 8 years, so I might have a
different view than a independent software vendor with their own product
lineup.

(Yes, I am working on my own product, but not because I want to work for free:
it's because I want to _create a revenue stream_ and get paid.)

------
spaghetti
Since college I've quit four well-paying jobs despite my family and friends
urging me not to. I quit because the jobs were not a good investment of my
time. Every day I spent at those jobs made me less valuable to the employers I
desired to work for.

After quitting each job I lived from savings and worked diligently creating my
own products. The products themselves were not spectacularly successful.
However they did help me get my current job which is awesome.

My point: try to make sure you invest your time wisely. Jobs don't need to be
perfect (none are) but they should help you advance to the next "gig" (own
company, early retirement, better job etc).

------
allenc
Somebody else has already went through the same idea and over the course of
months thoroughly denounced its viability:

<http://calnewport.com/blog/>

Being passionate isn't a substitute for mastery, getting burned out by hard
work, and general marketability of an idea or product. No matter now
passionate you might be about widget-building, your lack of skill and the lack
of a market for widgets is the cold hard reality.

