Ask HN: What Motivates You?

I used to be motivated by pure technical immersion. I loved knowing about software, hardware, networking, breathing it in and feeling energized by it. I’ve worked on major successes and major flops (RIP Windows Phone, we barely knew thee).

I’m 10 years into my career. I have a family now. I see software, tech, and work differently after 10 years in a few companies, some small, some huge. Currently at a FAANG company (not Microsoft). The idealist hacker/nerd I was doesn’t align with business objectives (in fact it feels soul crushing), and everything is reduced to planning, scheduling, cross-team alignment, and putting out fires, and I increasingly feel like a powerless grunt. I don’t want to play the game honestly. The game isn’t fun at this stage of my career.

So, obviously, I’m losing motivation. I’m curious what keeps you other mid-career or long-career developers out there motivated.