[SabrinaDent]

I realized I only enjoy software if I'm building what I want to build or something that interests me.

You know what? It's called work because it isn't fun. Most people do a day job to pay the bills. It's part of being a grown-up and it comes with commitments and responsibilities that yeah, sort of suck a lot of the time. Even if you're lucky enough to do something you love for a living (and I am) it isn't passionate enthusiasm all of the time.

If you can contract on the side with projects you're passionate about or build your own projects, that's how a lot of people stay engaged with the work. If you don't want to be a software developer at all, though, college seems like a good option only if you're going back to find a new area you're genuinely enthusiastic about.

[xentronium]

You know what? It's called work because it isn't fun. Most people do a day job to pay the bills. It's part of being a grown-up and it comes with commitments and responsibilities that yeah, sort of suck a lot of the time. Even if you're lucky enough to do something you love for a living (and I am) it isn't passionate enthusiasm all of the time.

Know what? I guess, you're wrong. If you (abstract you, not the you I am replying to) are doing things that you don't like, you're pitiful, at the very least. I strongly believe that life is too short to waste it on things you aren't "genuinely enthusiastic about".

My 2c.

[elblanco]

Man you must really enjoy paying bills and filling out paperwork and other wonderful, fun, life affirming activities (haggling over a car, getting sick, stuck in traffic, selling stuff). 'cause you can't get through life without that.

[muhfuhkuh]

But "haggling over a car, getting sick, stuck in traffic, selling stuff" are minor annoyances compared to sitting at a desk for at least 6 hours every day, 5 days a week, 261 days a year working on what amounts in your mind to be absolute BS.

And, this is coming from someone who works a 9-to-5 (albeit from home, which I believe helps IMMENSELY), and who is working on starting his second business (the first one was totally misguided and I had no heart for the industry, so it sorta fizzled out). I don't want to quit because the work sucks, I dig it just fine; I just want to go my own way. That way, my complaints of low pay, paltry vacation time, benefit shrinkage, or lack of a window overlooking cool stuff flow straight to someone who may listen and respond a little better.

[elblanco]

It's a pyramid. Lots of folks, particularly young people in my experience, don't really understand that you have to do lots of crap work in order to get to do the fun stuff. It's simply not possible to only do fun things, or if it is, I've never met anybody who was able to do it.

Most of the stuff you have to do to live is crap work nobody has a passion for or wants to do, then there's some measure that's tolerable, then a little bit that you look forward to, then there's a teeny tiny little bit up top that's awesome fun.

If you try and set unrealistic expectations that you only want to work on the teeny little bit that's fun, you'll always end up disappointed because the rest of the crap work supports you being able to do the fun stuff.

Of course, if your job never lets you experience any fun stuff, then what's the point? Move on. But don't expect you'll find a place that's only fun.

Even the craziest 90s dot-com companies, with pool tables, lava lamps, comfy chairs, top-of-the-line machines, liberal dog policy, etc. ended up not really being terribly fun places to work in the end, because they forgot to do the crap work that nobody wants to do.

This phenomenon actually manifests itself in a very real way in the open source world. Nobody actually wants to write device drivers or boot loaders or other such drudgery, so that stuff simply doesn't get worked on. What we end up with then is upteen million shells, window managers, audio subsystems, and other junk yet nobody can get their wireless card to work. (okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but until the open source world found itself corporate sponsors, lots of necessary but boring stuff simply didn't get built).

[xentronium]

I don't believe your example with opensource is relevant, because most people in opensource don't get money for what they do, thus, it's fair that they're looking for fun stuff.

[rogerclark]

I think his point was more that you can't expect anyone to be genuinely enthusiastic and passionate 100% of the time, even if they're doing something they love. There are times when part of the work sucks even if you're working toward something awesome. Sometimes the periods of suck can last much longer than you'd like.

I love my job, and I'm quite enthusiastic about it most of the time. But on some days I just don't feel good, and sometimes things like meetings can get annoying. Just because I don't enjoy it 100% of the time, all day every day doesn't mean I'm pitiful or that I'm wasting my life.

[SabrinaDent]

I think that's idealisitic. I design websites for startups and small businesses, pretty much all of whom are broke. I also spend a lot of time helping them with their online marketing because very few 3rd parties can provide those services inside the kinds of budget my clients are working with.

Do I like doing PPC campaigns? No, I sort of hate it but I do it because the clients I love need it and there isn't anyone else to do it. I wish more of them would get better at doing their own newsletters well, too, but I also want a pony and that isn't happening either, so I do monthly emailings for the clients who need them because I want them to do it right.

Am I passionate about PPC and newsletters? Hell no. But I am passionate about these people and these companies so I do it cheerfully because it's part of my job to do the tedious and annoying stuff that supports all the other work I love to do. I don't think that's pitiful; in fact I am pretty sure that's exactly the way it's supposed to work.

[momotomo]

I think there's too much romance in people's expectations of what real work looks like. It's genuinely great to pursue your passion, but it always has a cost. The "if it's not your passion, you're wasting your life" thing aggravates me to the point of distraction.

A lot of talented people are perpetually stuck because once the novelty wears off on something, they get antsy and move onto something else. It's nothing to do with their skill level, just the phobia of doing a long, long grind to get to a goal.

I'm a painter, and I've developed before, it all looks the same to me - once you have a brilliant idea and get over the fun bit, you need to work on the other 80% of it until it's done. Once an idea settles in your head and stops being exciting, the real work begins; after that point it takes actual sacrifice and dedication that isn't being fueled by anything other than your own decisions and time management.