For me, soulsuck comes from futility. I do my best for my clients, and they inevitably demand - at some point - that I do something that pleases their ego, or a

For me, soulsuck comes from futility. I do my best for my clients, and they inevitably demand - at some point - that I do something that pleases their ego, or a committee, or some internal checklist, but that results in my work being less useful, useable, etc for their end users. As somebody whose passion IS great software, this makes me extremely unhappy. It's like being stabbed in my core value. I'm not cut out for consulting. Working on my own thing, on the other hand, always gives me a sense of purpose. It doesn't matter what I'm doing at the moment, or if it's fun. I have a great capacity for unfun work. But I don't have anybody forcing me to undo great work. If I turn out to be wrong & customers all ask for change, first it's my choice - and second, if they find the user experience needs changing, I am probably in a position to grow. My customers use my work; clients rarely consume what they pay me for. Make sense?