[JohnCurran]

I respect Paul and everything that he writes, even if I don’t agree with it. It takes some serious stones to publish your thoughts on the internet - whether people agree or not.

In any case. This seems like a continuation of the never ending quest for people to sacrifice themselves for the betterment of a corporate profit they will never see.

I’m not interested in eliminating the ceiling - I want to raise the floor. Having a “side hustle” shouldn’t be a requirement to get by.

I am frustrated that the USA’s money advice largely comes from billionaires. They’re not like us. That’s OK. There’s a lot of room between millions and billions

[matwood]

> I am frustrated that the USA’s money advice largely comes from billionaires.

One of my big issues with the 'follow your passion' advice is it almost always comes from people who are already rich. And, those people are often trying to leverage worker passion to staff their companies.

As a young person, don't follow your passion. Instead, figure out the fastest way to economic security and once there, then figure out a passion.

[samuellevy]

There's an interview with Bo Burnham where he puts it clearly...

> Don't listen to people who just got very lucky. Taylor Swift telling you to "follow your dreams" is like a lottery winner saying "liquidise your assets, buy Powerball tickets. It works!"

And that's the thing. Skill and talent are important, but there's a certain amount of success that's only achievable through luck, or through starting from _so far ahead_ that it's just genuinely out of reach for us mere mortals.

Is the experience of those people irrelevant? No, but it's also not actually applicable to most other people.

[biztos]

Surely there's some luck involved, but wouldn't the Taylor Swift analogy be more like "develop a product that leverages your talents and is likely to have mass appeal, work your ass off perfecting your ability to deliver that product, take the extreme negative externalities of success in your business without complaining, and once you get traction double down on the working your ass off part?" Oh and also "have sufficient business acumen to stare down Apple and win?"

[JohnCurran]

> Instead, figure out the fastest way to economic security and once there, then figure out a passion

This is good advice and I agree with it. I just wish it wasn’t the advice we had to give

[jebarker]

Do you say that because you think the work required to achieve economic security is too much? I ask because it's hard to imagine an alternative that would enable more people to follow their passions without securing the essentials first.

[red_admiral]

There's a saying from Eastern Europe: first learn a trade, then follow your dreams. If the dreams don't work out, you'll still be able to earn a living.

[badpun]

Andrzej Sapkowski (polish fantasy author, of "The Witcher" fame), when asked about his advice for young people who want to be professional writers like him said: "get into an honest and, if at all possible, profitable profession". We're not dreamers here in EE like people in US, we're not reach enough to afford it :)

[gjenkin]

> One of my big issues with the 'follow your passion' advice is it almost always comes from people who are already rich

This. My sister is quite an accomplished artist who decided out of college to follow her passion. https://instagram.com/carmeljenkin?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==

She is not rich and has to hustle like crazy to sell her artwork while also working tables at a casino and raising a daughter. I doubt that she would advise anyone to just follow their passion without first establishing some kind of financial base.

[shurane]

> And, those people are often trying to leverage worker passion to staff their companies.

Is there usually a good reason for an average employee to pour their passion into work? Seems like it's better to do a better job than your peers/coworkers but not shoot for the moon, unless you're getting a significant amount of that profit.

Most passions I see are usually poured into something separate from your earning potential, i.e. working a service job while writing music, auditioning for a movie or play, etc.

Unless they can afford to go all in, via startup funding or savings while working on their own project.

[austin-cheney]

I have noticed a divergence between product quality and incentive. The more distant the incentives are the less product quality matters. I have observed this at every place of employment, personal project, and entertainment software I have ever touched. It comes down to this:

1) What is the purpose of the product/platform/work? Typically when speaking of software generally there is only one correct answer: automation. If the stakeholder cannot answer this question in 2 words or less nothing else matters, because this the foundation from everything else derives.

2) How does the stakeholder define product quality? Do they measure any of that? If there are not written goals AND measures its probably all bullshit.

3) How directly are incentives tied to the defined product quality goals? If I have to count the hops using two hands there are no product quality goals.

4) What is the target audience of the product quality goals? In theory the primary audience should that which is the primary driver of revenue, but in reality it is typically that which is of greatest comfort to people analyzing requirements. This is where things get toxic. This is what makes me want to abandon software as a profession.

5) Incentives are not necessarily compensation.

With this list in mind the typical goal of a corporate software developer is to complete some tasks, get paid, and retain employment. Product quality is completely irrelevant up to and including some tolerance for terminal failure.

[Aeolun]

> including some tolerance for terminal failure.

On the other hand, you cannot survive as a corporate software dev without this ability because 80% of the failure will be completely unrelated to anything you do.

I keep thinking about these two massive projects we were working on with literally 50 people only to find out after completion that nobody had asked the client if they actually wanted anything like it. All that work down the drain...

[kirso]

I think this essay applies not only on business but also your craft.

If you like painting, work on your craft, not for the sake of betterment but for the sake of joy and appreciation for your craft.

If its weightlifting work on it for the sake of yourself.

IMO this applies to everything you do.

[Lk7Of3vfJS2n]

> This seems like a continuation of the never ending quest for people to sacrifice themselves for the betterment of a corporate profit they will never see.

Reading the essay I didn't see a reference to "the betterment of a corporate profit". Doing good work doesn't mean starting a startup, if this is what you meant.

[sheepybloke]

I agree. I read most of this as an internally facing focus. I feel like now days we are so cynical. You can't take pride in your work, or want to do a good job because you'll just be "doing it for corporate profit". To me, it's more internally focused, learning and building for your own benefit, because you want to know more or do it a bit better. I think the big thing is that you're not competing against anyone else; rather, you're just trying to do and be a bit better than who you were.