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To follow this advice, you have to: A) Be the type of person who can focus on only one thing B) Love not learning or doing other fun things because a career tru

To follow this advice, you have to: A) Be the type of person who can focus on only one thing B) Love not learning or doing other fun things because a career trumps all things in life C) Like putting all your eggs in one basket and hoping your career or skill is always relevant D) Love being the best you can be for the benefit of your boss E) Want to work in a career for the rest of your life Of course the most successful people you mentor are the ones who are only doing what you are guiding them to do and aren't distracted by life, it doesn't mean they are better. This sounds like propaganda given by the CEO to have more effective employees. There is no doubt that focus can help you improve and get there faster, but at what cost and with what life goals? Side hustles can be fun, profitable and life changing. We've got at least 3 that has allowed my partner to reduce her work hours to 4 days a week and generates half of her salary. We can buy fun stuff and business expense it and if we continue to improve we can gain more control and freedom. Original post was about having hobbies and not feeling guilty about not turning them into side businesses. It would be better if our culture was set as a default to say "that's awesome, it's so good you could sell it if you were so inclined, but feel no pressure to do so, I just want you to know it's that good", instead of saying "you should make a store/service to sell your hobby" and make people feel bad, even though it's just a compliment.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> To follow this advice, you have to: A) Be the type of person who can focus on only one thing B) Love not learning or doing other fun things because a career trumps all things in life C) Like putting all your eggs in one basket and hoping your career or skill is always relevant D) Love being the best you can be for the benefit of your boss E) Want to work in a career for the rest of your life Or, work toward finding a job and career that you enjoy. Doing occasional side projects for fun is fine. Doing side coding projects as a form of escapism because your job isn't aligned with what you actually want to be doing all day is a fool's errand. The time is better spent searching for a job that comes closer to what you want to do. > Side hustles can be fun, profitable and life changing. We've got at least 3 that has allowed my partner to reduce her work hours to 4 days a week and generates half of her salary. We can buy fun stuff and business expense it and if we continue to improve we can gain more control and freedom. Of course - If you're starting a small business then that's something else entirely. The vast majority of side projects that I see aren't profitable small businesses, though.
- allenu 5y ago
  I think it really depends on how idealistic you are. I don't think I'll ever find a job that satisfies me completely. I just have too many creative ideas that don't fit neatly into a regular dev job. I've also found that "devoting" myself to my job itself can lead to burn out. There's only so much you can control within a job. Even trying to find a better job takes work and does not guarantee you'll be happier in the new role. There's always something that you won't like in it. In my opinion, it's better for your mental health to treat your job as a job and get as much as you can out of it in terms of money and improving your skills. I think with enough time in the industry, you eventually figure this out. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing side projects as a form as escapism if your job isn't aligned to what you want to do. Life is what you make it. There's no "correct" way to live.
cpwright 5y ago
> B) Love not learning or doing other fun things because a career trumps all things in life I think that this dismisses the joy of learning things that are unrelated to your day job or any hustle. I enjoy woodworking, turning it into a side hustle where I need to justify expenses would suck the joy out of it. I do something that is not work, recharge, and it is intellectually stimulating even if it is nothing like my day job in software.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

> To follow this advice, you have to: A) Be the type of person who can focus on only one thing B) Love not learning or doing other fun things because a career trumps all things in life C) Like putting all your eggs in one basket and hoping your career or skill is always relevant D) Love being the best you can be for the benefit of your boss E) Want to work in a career for the rest of your life Or, work toward finding a job and career that you enjoy. Doing occasional side projects for fun is fine. Doing side coding projects as a form of escapism because your job isn't aligned with what you actually want to be doing all day is a fool's errand. The time is better spent searching for a job that comes closer to what you want to do. > Side hustles can be fun, profitable and life changing. We've got at least 3 that has allowed my partner to reduce her work hours to 4 days a week and generates half of her salary. We can buy fun stuff and business expense it and if we continue to improve we can gain more control and freedom. Of course - If you're starting a small business then that's something else entirely. The vast majority of side projects that I see aren't profitable small businesses, though.

allenu 5y ago
I think it really depends on how idealistic you are. I don't think I'll ever find a job that satisfies me completely. I just have too many creative ideas that don't fit neatly into a regular dev job. I've also found that "devoting" myself to my job itself can lead to burn out. There's only so much you can control within a job. Even trying to find a better job takes work and does not guarantee you'll be happier in the new role. There's always something that you won't like in it. In my opinion, it's better for your mental health to treat your job as a job and get as much as you can out of it in terms of money and improving your skills. I think with enough time in the industry, you eventually figure this out. There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing side projects as a form as escapism if your job isn't aligned to what you want to do. Life is what you make it. There's no "correct" way to live.

cpwright 5y ago

> B) Love not learning or doing other fun things because a career trumps all things in life I think that this dismisses the joy of learning things that are unrelated to your day job or any hustle. I enjoy woodworking, turning it into a side hustle where I need to justify expenses would suck the joy out of it. I do something that is not work, recharge, and it is intellectually stimulating even if it is nothing like my day job in software.