[sanderjd]

I think this hints at another truth though: If you switch your metric to up-weight happiness and down-weight material rewards, it moves down the rankings IMO.

Believe it or not, I know some people who essentially never get frustrated by their work, while making a decent wage. In some of these cases, they also don't have the "is what I'm doing useless or even actively harmful" ennui that is prevalent in the software industry.

I try to remind myself that some of my pay is compensation is for frequent frustration.