[lordnacho]

"As you start to ponder the implied ethos, the stranger it gets. Would you like engineers to be passionate as they design new bridges? Would you like a surgeon to be passionate as she operates on you? Would you like judges to be passionate as they pass sentence on your friend?"

I'm not sure what exactly he means by passionate, but I do know a surgeon who spends time reading and lecturing about the history of surgery. I'm sure there are judges who take pride in understanding more than just how to do their current jobs too. And for a fact you will run into engineers, both the traditional and software kinds, who care to get some context related to their professions. I also spent a fair bit of time when I got a trading job reading up on how the market had evolved. Does that qualify as passion?

Now, there's of course a difference between demonstrating that you care about the larger context of your work, and doing work for free. I think the only place where we associate passion with no money tends to be the arts, the common trope being that person who acts or paints but needs a job to pay the bills. Then clearly they aren't doing it for the money.

But of course you can do something for money while also caring deeply about it.

Overall he's right though, you should never let someone talk you into a position where you need to demonstrate that you want to work for free. If you are in the village play because you like it, and that play somehow ends up on Netflix and makes a gazillion dollars, you should get a sensible piece of it. Likewise if someone is proposing you help with some software that might end up being worth a lot, you should get a piece.

[jkingsbery]

I had a similar reaction when comparing software engineering to other professions. My brother is a lawyer, and he has to do continuing legal education (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_legal_education). I have friends who are doctors that go to (and sometimes speak at) conferences. I'm not sure that we software engineers need to spend all our free time on leetcode and answering StackOverflow questions, but reading a book about something outside of normal work hours seems like pretty tame stakes.

[bps4484]

I thought the same thing about that quote. He is mixing up events with these two professions.

Nobody wants an engineer who is passionate while they are literally writing code, screaming at the computer and flailing his hands[1]. Much in the same way we wouldn't want a judge to be passionate when he's handing down a sentence.

But a judge should care about our laws, our constitution, and be opinionated about them. I want a surgeon who understands how the practice of surgery is evolving and stays up to date on best practices. I want a bridge builder to get ABSOLUTELY passionate about the type of materials used on a bridge and not settle for anything less. Similarly I think the best software engineers care deeply and are knowledgable about the craft of software engnineering.

[1] Well, I've had a coworker who did this and it was actually really comical and we were all entertained, but he was the exception that proved the rule.

[majormajor]

I've seen a doctor who didn't seem to care, as well as one that did. One just tried to throw prescriptions at any problems I took to him, and the other one was more interested in root causes and the sum picture of my overall health. I definitely want the passionate one there, all other things about their knowledge and potential competence being equal.