> If 'objective one is to get paid' it comes across as primarily a monetary transaction. That's generally not how the people I know who are really fulfilled in their careers look at it.
Having a fulfilling career is a myth sold to you by employers.
Focus on getting paid enough to have a fulfilling life instead.
After all, chances are the higher ups at your company will fire you at the drop of a hat if they think it will secure them a bigger year-end bonus.
Except it’s not necessarily. As a software developer, you have the privilege to not really care about money if you don’t want to. I didn’t have money problem, ever. Without even trying. I can fly three times between Europe and America, and about 20 more times inside the continent in a year, and I can still put about third of my salary to saving. And I live in a country now where software developers are heavily underpaid: Austria. Most of my friends in other fields can’t even imagine my life - their exact words.
> As a software developer, you have the privilege to not really care about money if you don’t want to.
That sounds nice for you, but your experience is not common I don't think. It's certainly not my experience as a software developer in Canada, where I struggled for years and even now make "just" a comfortable living.
I'm very happy I don't have to worry about rent and groceries and I can save quite a bit, but I'm certainly not able to "not care about money"
HN has a high concentration of above-average salaries, even within the US. It's tough constantly hearing how many multiples more my southern equivalent at FAANG is earning without it affecting my sense of self worth.
I think this is one of the major downsides of focusing on money as the primary part of a job. It can easily become a constant comparison, which has a natural way of making you miserable.
Is it a myth if people have managed to do it? It takes some self-awareness and conscious decision-making, but it's certainly possible.
IMO, a focus on getting paid can lead you to optimize the wrong things in life, making fulfillment less likely than more. It has a weird way of changing your value system by changing what you focus your attention on.
Having a fulfilling career is a myth sold to you by employers.
Focus on getting paid enough to have a fulfilling life instead.
After all, chances are the higher ups at your company will fire you at the drop of a hat if they think it will secure them a bigger year-end bonus.