[nolok]

> in all these founder stories [...] you better love what you're doing

I agree with you as a general point but I disagree in that you make it about founders.

As a general rule, if you have the chance/education/abilities to do, you should always pick a job where you love what you're doing, whether you're the founder or an important employee or a random grunt in a giant corporation.

You're going to do that for 8h+ hours a day, 5+ days a week for years on end. Make sure you enjoy it.

[rwallace]

Actually, unless you are very unusual, one kind of job you should not pick is one where you love what you're doing, because if you love that activity, so do lots of other people (again, unless you are very unusual), which means they will crowd into that occupation and bid down wages and working conditions until life for almost everyone in that occupation is shit.

Mind you, it's also bad to be in a job you hate. Forty hours a week doing something you hate is a big negative impact on quality of life.

If you're going to be working for money, what you should aim for is something that pays decently and you don't hate.

[dragonwriter]

The problem with that theory is that just because you don't love it doesn't mean that there aren't lots of others who do love it. Trading off your joy doesn't mean you aren't still competing in a field where your competitors love it ... it just means you don't.

For the concern you cite, avoiding what you love is misguided, you want to actually study the markets for various options to see what is getting bid down -- and choose something that has an attractive combination of economic conditions resulting from others preferences and interaction with your preferences.