> I'm going to take a wild guess and say you don't really care that much about the purpose of your software. You're not a game developer who's been an avid game

> I'm going to take a wild guess and say you don't really care that much about the purpose of your software. You're not a game developer who's been an avid games since age 4, or a silicon valley entrepreneur who truly believes their web app is going to change the world. You've identified a niche that's liable to make some money, and are diligently plugging away at an implementation. Spot on. I walked into this career by accident, the money was good and I stayed. No, I don't know what I actually want to do - something I've never known :) > You're in trouble if software craftsmanship is your only source of motivation. Spot on again. Pride in what I do is my only motivation at this point. I don't get to see happy users, find out how I've improved lives, get user feedback and make things better for someone. > Now that you're in this project, it may be impossible to quit. It was impossible to turn down, as they're a good client and provide somewhat interesting work (always unusual tasks). Otherwise I wouldn't have touched it. > I've never understood how developers can be happy writing CRUD apps or pushing ads. You gotta search for meaning. Even if you take a pay cut, it's worth it to find work that you care about. CRUD is the most soul-destroying code to write as doing it with good craftsmanship is impossible (there I said it). Concerns overlap between the front and backend. I do share your sentiment, but pay cuts are hard (I suspect I undercharge at the moment, making them harder still). Thanks for commenting!