

Thoughts on Writing Code for Money - vlucas
http://samsoff.es/posts/thoughts-on-writing-code-for-money

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muhfuhkuh
I'm a writer. I write technical manuals for a living, and prose (essays, blog
entries, fiction) as an avocation. I know how to separate writing for pay and
writing for the love of it.

I also write code, so I do know how intellectually intertwined coding and
writing as pursuits can be; I also know that doing anything for pay can not
and should not _ever_ be compared to creating a child. It's just offensive to
everyone involved.

That said, here's the real takeaway from all this: I know my work (whether
it's a UINavigationController or a chapter on configuring a firewall for port
forwarding) is not a part of me; it's a gig.

I've known people who have quit their job because the company they worked for
was dropping their manual from the documentation set. I mean, they were _so_
enamored with their work, they were willing to part ways over it. There are
some I work with who refuse to write documentation for other products in other
areas of their company, simply because they've "got a good thing going with
that development team". I say, "who cares?"

If you can't (or won't) distance your emotions from the work you do for
people, it's time to just do it all for yourself. Become a solopreneur working
on solutions to problems and inefficiencies you see in the marketplace, like
patio11 did in the bingo card industry. That'll be the only way you'll be
truly free of self-confliction.

