[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

And as part of building the life you want, you're going to have to do things you don't like a lot of the time. Sacrifice is almost always necessary to achieve one's goals, that's just part of how the universe works.

I guess what I'm saying is that, just because you don't like doing it doesn't mean it isn't contributing to your satisfaction with life in the aggregate.

[closeparen]

For a lot of people in Silicon Valley, the sacrifice was working one's ass off in school to become a competitive candidate. The BigCo job is the reward.

Or for people in startups, the sacrifice is mediocre cash compensation and long hours, with the reward being a higher-than-usual probability of striking it rich.

Those of us who grow up with an affinity for software development have won the game, so to speak: we don't really have to sacrifice just to make a living.