[axguscbklp]

>employers want employees who are passionate about their craft

Do they really? I feel that my employers have all preferred employees who prioritize business needs, smooth functioning of the corporate hierarchy, "doing what everyone else is doing", and writing code for the common denominator more than they prioritize personal feelings about code quality and about what technological decisions are correct. I feel that my employers would all have preferred a steady, dispassionate 9-5 corporate type over a passionate employee who burns the midnight oil. The midnight oil burner, they probably would think, is likely to be a "cowboy coder". He might be a loose cannon.

Not that any of this is surprising. Of course employers prefer employees who prioritize making the company money more highly than they prioritize passion about their craft.