| Sure. I've met a lot of well-known authors at conferences and meetups. I've met people who work for big companies with R&D arms who are putting out content and products on the "bleeding edge" of technology (ala ThoughtWorks, IBM subsidiaries etc). Most of these people love technology. They love learning about technology. They'd be perfectly happy working in technology, but because monetary success ends at being specialist consultant in a super lucrative field.. They stop. Now they work in strategy and marketing around technology. Why? Because it's more lucrative. The job is more fun. They get to meet really, really smart people without having to work 60 hour weeks for $250K a year. (Which is great, of course, but these people have the soft-skills to add a multiplier to that amount.) I'd be happy working 9-5 as a CRUD software developer with a great team in an OK company. I'd be happy working in a very specialist field, earning $250K with an amazing team, in an amazing (funded) company (for a few years before shareholders start making demands). I'm more happy working random hours around the world, meeting and talking with the smartest people in technology at a range of companies. I get to learn about what they've achieved, how they've achieved it.. Without having to burn the candle at both ends.. And I get to just play with whatever tech I feel like playing with. They're different careers. A lot of people dabbling, or dipping their toes with blogging etc. are just doing it for a better portfolio when they company hop. |