There's a huge difference between getting paid for something that you'd do for free anyway, and being sold a bill of goods by a company that is trying to convince you to sell your time for less than it's worth.<p>Maybe it's because I came from academia, where people are always doing truly interesting work (for crap pay), but I'm also routinely disgusted with the glorified advertising companies who try to dress up their web engineer positions with "brilliant people changing the world" rhetoric.  No matter how smart my colleagues may be at Blub.com, their work is unlikely to be as interesting as the stuff from which I walked away.  Interesting work is important, but ultimately, a salary indicates professional respect.