[ericmcer]

That still feels a bit off, as you are "having fun" because it ultimately is the road to success.

There is a deeper hurt in the tech world, which is that we have all been conditioned to crave greatness. Every employer tries to sell us on how important what they do is, or how rich everyone will become. We can't even vacation without thinking how much better we will perform once we get back. That struggle with greatness is something every human grapples with, but for workers in tech it is particularly difficult to let it go. The entire industry wants us to hold onto it until we are completely drained.

Anyway the result is sentiments like this, where having fun, exploring and learning can't just exist for the inherent rewards.

[nanolith]

As per my original comment, these examples are only indicative that profitable endeavors can come out of these things in unexpected ways, but that's not the point of doing these things. I'm never going to profit from, nor recoup the costs I've sunk into most of the mad science I do. That's not the point. I do it because it's fun and because I like building cool things.

These examples are one justification for why we should embrace these kinds of hobbies, and not the desirable outcome for these kinds of hobbies.