[Ixiaus]

Generally speaking, I agree with you. I down voted though because it's a silly statement to make when you really think about it in a more dynamic way:

  * Perspective is subjective
  * SEO isn't everything you think it is

I'm an engineer and I'm actually building an SEO company; "SEO" (I really hate that acronym) is many different things. For some people it's a slimy practice, for other people it is marketing but on the internet ("Internet Marketing" and "SEO" pretty much go hand in hand these days).

You might even be interested to know that YC funded an SEO startup (http://www.ginzametrics.com) - they are an SEO tools company (my competitor).

So, can you love SEO? Sure you can, as an engineer, building useful SEO tools is rife with fun and interesting problems. Just gotta change your perspective a bit.

BUT I agree with you in that on a big philosophical whole, SEO is not something I will be doing my whole life; matter of fact I see it as a stepping stone to interests that matter to my spirit and not just my intellect (interesting engineering problems) and my ego (money and stuff).