For the Love of the Game: The Importance of Passion

I just started getting caught up with all the podcasts I regularly listen to again. I got pulled away due to a recent project deployment that required long working days. The two podcasts I was working on are Boagworld and StackOverflow. More specifically, the same issue came up in episode 188 – Clearspace or Headleft? of Boagworld and episode 73 of StackOverflow.

The general questions were centered around: The importance of passion.

In the Boagworld podcast, there were quite a few thoughts and options to the questions since it was an interview with the Clearleft crew. So, you got the perspective of not only Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington from Headscape, but also Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith. The discussion centered mostly on how one finds the time to keep up with new trends, technologies, etc in the web design industry. The general consensus being that there’s a very blurry line between the work-life balance when it comes to this kind of thing. One of the important takeaways from listening to Andy talk about it, was that if it’s not making you all jumpy and gitty to want to know what’s changing, what the new hot trend is, or what new technologies are coming out, that it raises a red flag and you should really take a step back and re-evaluate if this is really your passion. Of course, you could just be burnt out. As Paul mentioned that he does the majority of his RSS feeds reading in bed on his own time, it’s important to remember, most of us would be doing this anyway because it’s what we love to do.

Although, not exactly the same question, the same topic was brought up in a different manner on the StackOverflow podcast. This time in regards to what technology to choose to learn for future profit. Specifically, the listener was not interested in coding in Objective-C for the rest of his life, yet concerned if Ruby on Rails would still be a viable way to make a living in the area he currently lives in. To this question, both Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky answered similarly with:

“Joel and I concur: it probably doesn’t matter what language and toolchain you use, as long as it has a certain level of critical mass. What you should be more concerned about is the product you’re creating.

If you’re happy with your current tool chain, then there’s no reason you need to switch. However, if you can’t list five things you hate about your favorite programming language, then I argue you don’t know it well enough yet to judge. It’s good to be aware of the alternatives, and have a healthy critical eye for whatever it is you’re using.

Most programming languages don’t evolve particularly well over time. They’re usually replaced by other languages rather than new iterations of themselves. Why? What languages would you point to as the best example of growing and evolving in useful, relevant ways?”

While neither Joel or Jeff mentioned anything along the lines of picking something because it’ll make you a lot of money. I can’t imagine either of them would even come close to making any suggestion like that to anyone. Picking something just because it’s the new “money pot” or pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, is just asking for short term gain and potentially, long term unhappiness.

In the End

It’s my own opinion that you should not do or choose a path just because it has the potential to make you a lot of money if it doesn’t interest you at all. More so, if you have some inner hatred for Objective-C and think you should just suck it up and make something for the iPhone because it can net you a lot money. It’s not my recommendation, but do as you will.

What are your thoughts on Doing for the Money vs Doing for the Love?

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John Wang