I would guess that a lot of engineers DO care about money. In fact, i would think that MOST do, because most become engineers in order to make a living, and nothing more.<p>The problem is, I think that in engineering and other skilled work, the ones that are interested in their area of work regardless of whether they get paid well or not tend to be more skilled and do a better job. The same can be said for airline pilots (to put it simply, don't become an airline pilot if you want a safe job with a good salary, become an airline pilot if you LOVE flying).<p>So for a company looking to hire people, if a candidate will accept more interesting work for a lower salary, that is a good indicator that they CARE about the work they do. Someone who is only more interested in the salary and less interested in what they do _might_ be the ones that are happy with doing the bare minimums.<p>The other side of the problem is that most people think they are above average intelligent, and therefore most people will feel underpaid if they are not paid above average.<p>If you really love your job and you can do it by running your own business, that's often the best option. As an employee you are only making other people rich in exchange for some economic stability.