Passion Not Required: It's OK to Only Program for a Paycheck
Most of these essays about &quot;passion not required&quot; are missing the point.<p>Yes, <i>of course</i> passion isn&#x27;t required for a paycheck.  You&#x27;re preaching to the choir who are already receptive to that message and nod in agreement.<p>The issue is that <i>some of the others</i> in the industry who you don&#x27;t control such as founders, hiring managers, co-workers, etc <i>do care about passion</i> and use it as a important factor to hire you.<p>To answer the inevitable <i>&quot;pharmacists don&#x27;t dispense medicine on the weekends as a fun hobby so why are programmers who don&#x27;t have side-projects being discriminated against?!?&quot;</i>  ... it&#x27;s because programming (unlike pharamacy) is an activity that many <i>genuinely enjoy doing for fun</i> on personal time.  For those, programming is similar to expressing a creative outlet like playing guitar.  It&#x27;s inevitable that some people <i>prefer</i> these types of programmers.<p>Hiring <i>preferences</i> for those with passion are not unique to computer programmers.  Here&#x27;s engineer Ben Krasnow (of popular channel Applied Science) explaining how a &quot;personal portfolio&quot; helps him stand out and get good non-programming jobs:<p>- deep link and watch for ~30 seconds:
 <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;ihbYtxaEDSk?t=248" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;ihbYtxaEDSk?t=248</a><p>Another Ben K video covering the same topic but mentioning Valve &amp; GoogleX and choosing between prospective candidates:<p>- deep link:  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;4RuT2TlhbU8?t=112" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;4RuT2TlhbU8?t=112</a><p>So, if you&#x27;re an electrical engineer getting angry at the world because employers shouldn&#x27;t &quot;expect&quot; you to design circuits for fun on the weekend, don&#x27;t be surprised if they hire Ben instead of you.