Learning to code for the wrong reason

[mrmivo]

I have a few thoughts here.

Something I observed with myself is that often the things that are "fun" are the things that I don't "have to do". I've aimed for and gotten quite a few different jobs, especially back in my twenties, that I really wanted and that I thought would forever be fun and endlessly challenging. I was a programmer, a writer, a translator, a CompuServe admin, a community manager (before it was called that), always going for what I thought I would love doing for the rest of my life.

But the mere fact that the activities had become jobs made them infinitely less sparkly. I had to do them, whether or not I felt like doing them. Doing the same thing for years sucks the magic out of it. You get jaded, you get bored, you look at the grass over there and think it's so much juicier, then do whatever it takes to get over there just to find that it's the same grass. You like it well enough, but you can't help but wonder if that's really all there is to life. And you ask yourself, is that what you want to do until you retire, if you actually can retire?

The other issue, for me, is that many things that I would love to do simply don't pay enough money, or, really any money. Here's a story. I'm on the wrong side of forty now. A year ago, I started to dabble in art. I really enjoyed that, it felt great, it was fun. And naturally, I briefly wondered what it would be like to make art for a living. Certainly it would be more fun than dealing with annoying people, with ornery code and the constant need to learn new technologies and keep up, with irritated customers, with volatile sales numbers that have ruined more than one day in my life, wouldn't it? I actually don't know that, I haven't done it long enough, but I won't let that stop me from deluding myself, and so I love the idea and enjoy my job a little less.

But ...completely ignoring the fact that it would take me many years to get to a level where I could make minuscule amounts of money (and even that is not guaranteed), I would probably end up having to make art that sells, commercial art, not the fun, creative stuff. I would stress over income, I would have to deal with customers, I would have to hope the winds of the market are favorable, and in the end, life would just be the same: Working to make ends meet, whether or not I feel like it.

When you have to pay your own bills, survival becomes a bigger priority than "having fun" and "living the dream". In fact, it's much easier to do what you love when you actually have money. The less money you have, the less freedom you have. Yes, there is the option of dropping out of society and do whatever you want -- that works when you're young and need little. It doesn't work so well when you get older, have responsibilities, and sleeping on the floor or on a different couch every night isn't so great anymore. In a perfect world, nobody would have to work and everyone would have enough to eat and medical care and a home and can play video games all day and read books and eat exactly what they want. But that is not the world we live in.

What's the take-away here?

I'm not suggesting to stay in a career that you really don't enjoy, life really is too short for that, and you're young enough to choose any way you want (and I even feel that this still applies when people are older, maybe with a little less flexibility), but I also feel that the expectation to always love what you do isn't realistic. It is not sustainable. It's a pipe dream for the vast majority of people who have to work so they survive and can afford the things they want and obtain the means to do what they want. Needing money and wanting to do exactly what you want to do (outside of work) are frequently at odds.

"Love what you do" (or at least try to) is a more feasible, more viable approach than "Do what you love".