I see nothing wrong with this. Very few people truly have a passion for their work and for most , it's just a means to an end. This has been true for all other

I see nothing wrong with this. Very few people truly have a passion for their work and for most , it's just a means to an end. This has been true for all other "high paying" professions such as law and medicine. One of my best friends is a lawyer and he happened to mention that no one really gets into law because to fulfill some higher purpose.. Further, I don't think it really has an impact on the quality of the work they produce, you don't need a spiritual awakening to build good systems. You just need to be vigilant and gain experience. As an older engineer (is mid thirties old?..) I've grown out of this and now look elsewhere to nourish my need for numinous in things like philosophy, art, music, relationships, etc. When I was younger, I used to naively think my identity was a "Software Engineer"; now looking back I chuckle at that outlook on life. On a final note, I would argue that more people joining our profession is a _good_ thing. It will create more jobs, increase demand and we end up with a stronger workforce. I don't think gatekeeping a field yields to a healthy outcome.