My profession, law, is the same way. A lot of people come in and quit early to pursue other fields. I think that's the case with a lot of glamour jobs or jobs

My profession, law, is the same way. A lot of people come in and quit early to pursue other fields. I think that's the case with a lot of glamour jobs or jobs that promise large pay. A lot of people get into it for the promise of money and a good job. They later realize that that the actual work isn't for them and pursue something else. Law doesn't always pay well and requires a lot of passion to stick through and deal with all the crap you have to put up with in practice. I imagine programming is the same way. I do a bit of programming as a hobby,, there's no better feeling than when you build something that works. But the frustration of getting there can be tough. I can only imagine how much harder it would be with deadlines and project management issues to deal with. Though, I think working for a big law firm or bad is just miserable, and I can't imagine any amount of passion making it bearable. So perhaps a matrix of what you end up doing and your internal passion for the subject is what keeps people from burning out and hating their jobs.