IMHO, you're starting from a false dichotomy that insinuates work is inherently a bad thing. Consider that hobbies are generally not things that have some great

IMHO, you're starting from a false dichotomy that insinuates work is inherently a bad thing. Consider that hobbies are generally not things that have some great positive impact on humanity, but they are fun nonetheless. Work can be the same: people often enjoy the process itself, imperfect and full of ups and downs as it may be. This can be especially true for SWEs because the role has creative and/or intellectually stimulating aspects to it. The idea of deriving happiness from your actions has been explored at length by disciplines like Buddhism, and it boils down to being aware of where your attachments lie. You might, for example, think happiness is lying on a beach sipping on Pina coladas or whatever. But fulfillment generally requires achievements of some sort, and on an ongoing basis. You can't really achieve fulfillment without effort/work, pretty much by definition. So a more productive/pragmatic way of thinking is to align your need for subsistence to the pursuit of fulfillment.