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by pbhjpbhj 4073 days ago
>That code you output? It's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Cherish what makes you human, not what makes you a good worker. //

Isn't that just soul crushingly depressive. Surely everything you do is part of your character, how you work, what you work on, that's all part of who you are. You are not your work but I feel you've gone too far.

>Work is there for one reason and one reason only. To get you money to do the things you like and to give you the means to cherish the people you love. //

I disagree. Yes, you need to earn your keep, no that doesn't mean that work should be solely about the money (unless you're unfortunate enough to be unable to change your circumstances, eg through poverty).

2 comments

Yes, it is soul crushingly depressive. That's why you should make sure that work doesn't affect your personal human character.

If you work on an awesome project at work, do cherish it. Let it flow all over your ego. You did an awesome job? Be proud of it. But remember that what you are actually loving from that awesome project isn't the project itself, or the client, or your boss, or the money, or your time spent working.

From my point of view, an awesome project can be defined as a project that made you grow, that made you learn. This is what you love, and this is what you seek without even being aware of it.

Growing and learning is the basis of our human existence.

Sadly, most work you do will be repetitive. Boring. Harsh. Some time, it will even go badly. Learn what you can from those project, grow as much as you can, then move on. A bad project shouldn't even touch your sense of self worth.

The only moment you should feel less from your work is when you know that you didn't do your best. All else is simply work. Work may go bad, but if you did you best, worked your hardest, don't put it against yourself.

Your value as an individual human being is miles away from how your last project went. To me, they are barely related.

> >That code you output? It's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Cherish what makes you human, not what makes you a good worker. //

> Isn't that just soul crushingly depressive. Surely everything you do is part of your character, how you work, what you work on, that's all part of who you are.

For the code you output, you need to recognize and accept that almost everything you write won't run in production for very long, if at all. There are exceptions, but it's mostly true. So take pride in the production, and don't stake too much on the outcome.

I do agree that everything you do is a part of you. Just don't focus too much on one thing, or the wrong things.