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Comment by itsmemattchung | Hacker News Reader

Instead of following the notorious "do what you love and money will follow" advice, the author suggests instead to:

> And so, the advice I would give to young people is this: structure your life so that you have the time and money to do what you love. That’s not easy to do by any means, but it is a much more realistic goal.

I often tell people that when I first entered the tech industry many moons ago, I wasn't chasing the money. I simply loved working with computers. And it just so happens that working in tech is lucrative. But I do wonder, fast forward 15 years later, if I would've stuck around if the field wasn't as booming.

I wonder if I tricked myself into believing that working in tech is really my passion ...

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I was making computer programs just for the heck of it even before I knew it was possible to make money with them. Even if the field wasn't booming, I would have stuck around and kept making them on the side. Doing what you love doesn't mean it can only happen full-time.

Broke: “figure out your passion and make that your job”

Woke: “get a lucrative career and find time to do your passions on the side”

Bespoke: “find a lucrative profession and gaslight yourself into thinking you loved it all along”

I know what I liked originally about computers was gaming, modding, hacking, and building them. I didn’t have a huge interest in programming and I definitely didn’t have an interest in having shitty managers. Yet here I am - big head SV engineer.

If you did trick yourself, then maybe that's actually a good thing. New advice:

instead of "do what you love and the money will follow," find something lucrative and learn to love it.

Though I think in most cases that might be difficult/impossible, maybe you just got lucky

I've wondered the same, with the same lead into the industry. I don't think it's possible to extract the two from one-another.

I've nerded-out on the majority of the projects I've worked on through my career - especially in the latter years. But there are quite a few projects in the past that would not have come to completion without a big fat carrot to keep my belly full and my favorite bartenders' rent paid.

Some weeks - no matter how interesting the problem is - I couldn't possibly care. The money remains a great fallback motivator; And unfortunately, often can end up being a shackle to a project that's well past its sell-by date.

I would be solving puzzles using computing for free (and often do at home, with or without the kids).

I find it very fortunate that others are willing to pay handsomely to be able to specify the puzzles that I work on. Win-win.

I have found myself in a similar position for most of my career. I also got into for the love of working with code. But I've stayed in the industry largely because it enables me to provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family.

I am still passionate about writing software, but the software I like to write doesn't pay the bills. It's avocational. The tech industry afforded my family the lifestyle I desire, but it didn't really ignite my passion, it was just lucrative.

I've since shifted into management. I'm finding new fulfillment in creating the kinds of teams I wish I had as an IC, that lets individuals work in ways they find fulfilling.

I wonder about this all the time. In the past 5 years I've learned a lot of IoT projects, electronics, arduino. I've played around with linux for decades, but my passion was originally music.

I went down the music path but the money was awful. It taught me how to apply myself to different projects, and I don't love tech as much as I love music, but it allows me to have the freedom to do other things, which I also love.

They aren't mutually exclusive. I think you and I both have enjoyed the happy coincidence that we like programming more than most things that pay equally.

Don’t be hard on yourself. Things with traction are usually interesting per se.

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