[cmorelli]

I have to strongly, strongly disagree with this.

First, let's talk about your assertion - we're basically all just in this for the money. If you want to make that claim, you have to be able to answer why. Why is money important? Why would we do anything just for money? Money itself is irrelevant, we only want it because of what we can get with it. So, let's go a step further and figure out what we'll buy with that money. Sure, you're going to buy things for yourself - most people likely will. But are they going to spend it all on themselves? Most likely not. Many people will spend that on gifts for their spouse, a vacation for their family, school for their children, a new house or car to improve the lifestyle of their loved ones. All of these things are honest reasons we justify spending our lives working - to improve not just our own life, but the lives of those we love (and for many great people in the world - the lives of people they've never met).

Second, let's go towards your statement that people just can't have a deep passion for things. You're saying that people can't do something because they're particularly interested in or dedicated to a particular issue? Ok, explain Doctors Without Borders, the Boys & Girls Club of America, St. Jude Children's Hospital, or literally any other charitable organization in the world. Are its founders, low-paid employees (relative to market potential), and unpaid volunteers just in this for the money also?

I'm keeping my cool here on this, because ultimately this is a comment and we're all free to express our minds - but I'm offended by the assertion that we can't care about anything other than money. And that's after you get past the fact that the statement on its face doesn't actually make sense, because none of us care about money - we only care about what we can get with it.

Edit: perhaps a bit of an overreaction to otherwise benign comments on behalf of the OP. I still feel strongly about my comments here, but may have misunderstood the intent of OP's statements.

[nvarsj]

I don't think OP is talking about Doctors without Borders. He's talking about the super hyped engineer at a big Ad company who says she's extremely passionate about her job. This sort of attitude is very common in the U.S., in my experience.

[cmorelli]

Ok, sure, but the OP didn't qualify his/her statements that 90%+ of us are lying when we say we're anything other than financially motivated. I'm attacking the assertion that we simply can't be intrinsically motivated by things that matter to us.

That said, I do know engineers that work at startups and actually are pumped by the vision - they're excited about what they're building and what it could mean for the future.

[ruleabidinguser]

You need money to live. As for your other comments, I think you're misquoting me.

[cmorelli]

"That I need money and this is my best choice. I would guess 90+% of people who say theres anything more to it than this are lying to you and probably themselves."

I'm not sure how I'm misquoting you here - you very clearly and plainly said you assume 90%+ of people who say anything other than money is their motivation are lying to you and themselves.

As for your comment that you need money to live - of course you do. That's a far cry from your statement, which is that people are solely motivated by money. The typical HN reader likely makes above the average salary, so they're already past the point of working for enough of a salary to live, and they're in the disposable income territory.

[barrkel]

You said 90+% of people who state any other goal are actually working for the money and lying about it to other people. I think that's very incorrect.

[UK-AL]

You just said money is irrelevant, then proceeded to list all the useful things money can do for a family?

Money is just a proxy for useful things you can request.

[cmorelli]

I said money itself is irrelevant. Saying we work for money is stupid, because we don't. We work for the things money could buy. It's an arguably arbitrary distinction, but in this case it's important, because it speaks to the meaningless first statement of the original post.

How can we all be working solely for money when none of us actually care about the money - we care about all the other things that the money gets us that the original comment explicitly stated we don't care about.

Edit: I think we're on the same page here, but perhaps I could have clarified what I meant in my comment. Money itself is meaningless, as you mentioned, it's a proxy for other things we can get. Which is why it makes no sense to say we're motivated by money. We're motivated by the things we want that money to buy for us.

[UK-AL]

When most say working for the money, what they mean is exactly what you mean. Things money can provide.

[cmorelli]

Agreed. If you look solely at my comment in response to the one I replied to, it probably seems like I missed the mark. However, take it in context with the OP's comments for the topic

"I can see what is going on in my head, that I tend to materialise some image of my future self, create value for the family and the environment I live in, position myself good for the future-needed skills, have joy in what I do, have more freedom to decide of my future direction ... there are many different triggers of motivation for my actions, but from time to time they seem random and misaligned."

In that context, he's clearly referring to (at least to me it seems) deeper motivations that simply financial. So, to have the top comment on this page say 90%+ of us are motivated financially and lying if we say otherwise, in the context of this topic, I think is just wrong.

That said, I've edited my original comment to clarify I may have misunderstood the one I replied to.

[mapster]

outside of the tech bubble, the truth is ppl need money to live, pay off student loans, support family.

[nunez]

he did say "most" and based on my experience with many people in the industry, i have to agree with OP. most folks are in this for the cash (myself included).

why do you think articles on salary and negotiation are so popular here?