Passion for your job is overrated
I used to be very passionate about programming. When I applied to 8th Light as an apprentice craftsman, I did their interview code challenge in four different languages just for fun.
Today as I’m doing a code challenge for an interview with Braintree, as I was googling how to do something in TypeScript, one blog post I came across started out by the author saying he was crazy about the language. Having felt that way myself about languages in the past, I understood and related to that sentiment, but it also stood out to me as very strange.
I mean, how can someone be crazy about a programming language? It’s a tool, meant to accomplish a task, like sponges or hammers. It’s a means to an end. Could someone ever be excited about a dish-washing sponge in the same way? Could someone be excited about getting and using a brand new hammer?
Sure, if they were used to sponges that didn’t have the scrubby side, or hammers that were unbalanced and hard to wield. That’s probably why I used to get so excited about new programming languages. C++ was hard to write OOP in, and Ruby was easier. Ruby’s magic got really confusing, and Clojure’s immutability was clearer. Objective-C made certain tasks difficult and verbose, and Swift made them easier. React is easier than UIKit.
So the passion I thought I had was probably in part just relief that the job of creating software was now easier than before. But that sentence kind of reveals another part: you’re creating things, where everything is possible, and the only limit is your imagination. That’s straight-up fun! And it’s easy to be passionate about fun. But that’s not real passion. Just like kindling, it’ll burn out quickly: what’s fun now will soon get old, and then you’ll need to find a new fun. True passion is like a thick log, it lasts.
Once I realized that, I started working towards the end and not the means. I made a macOS app (keyboard-based window manager) that I’ve been using constantly for the last 4 years. It’s an amazing feeling to create something and then actually use it to increase your own productivity. This is probably the same passion people had when they worked at Apple creating the iPod or the iPhone. This is probably why people want to work at Tesla or SpaceX.
But my problem with this kind of passion is that it’s not anchored. There’s no definite answer as to what software can make a truly and obviously incontrovertible positive change in the world. Many people will say this or that software is the path to a better future, and many people will disagree with them, and both will have good reasons on each side.
There’s only one thing I’m truly passionate about that will keep me writing software day after day: my children. If I don’t make money to buy food and pay rent, they’ll go hungry and be homeless. It’s my job to provide for them. It’s my job to give them a good childhood and a good start to their life. It’s my job to earn money so they don’t have to worry or go without. And the only marketable skill I have is software, which I’ve gotten pretty good at.
So I will not discriminate against jobs based on lacking passion for what they do or what languages they use. I’ll keep applying to any software jobs that use languages which I have a fair amount of experience with. I’ve seen certain potential employers — especially start-ups and corporations that grew out of start-ups — looking for programmers who have the first two kinds of passion, the kind that’s like kindling and the kind that wants to change the world. Unfortunately I don’t have either of those. But I think that’s actually a strength: I’m able to work more steadily, with a much longer commitment, and I’ll do any programming work, even the “boring” tasks.
I didn’t write this intending to advertise, but since it’s kind of related to the topic: I’m available for hire. Check out my online resume: sdegutis.com.
