3 ms·

That begs the question, why do I want to be the most successful person in my field? Software development is a means to exchange labor for money and to support

That begs the question, why do I want to be the most successful person in my field? Software development is a means to exchange labor for money and to support my addiction to food and shelter. The list of things I’m more passionate about than software development is a mile long. I haven’t written a single line of code that wasn’t in direct service to exchanging my time for money since 1996. I was “passionate” from the time I was 12 until I graduated from college.

catach 4y ago
Specialization of passion. Nobody can or should be passionate about all the things. But we can be thankful for those who are passionate about the domains where we are not, since we collectively benefit from those domains being loved and nurtured. At least in many cases.
dvt 4y ago
> That begs the question, why do I want to be the most successful person in my field? I'm not sure how this begs any question. Some baristas work at coffee shops to make ends meet; others want to be the best at what they do and compete in barista competitions, learn to roast, maybe eventually start their own coffee shops, etc. Why some do the former while others do the latter is just a question of priorities, dreams, desires, and so on.
waboremo 4y ago
There's another layer to this, people who work for a simple exchange of money (and the important part is we're talking people making more than the average in the field, not somebody at mcdonalds) are prone to going along with decisions even if they negatively affect the community. To be passionate is to care about your work and the only way you can produce high quality sustainable work is to care. But most jobs aren't creating products/services worth caring about (or worse, harming/exploiting people) is the catch. See: the average Meta employee vs passionate successful figures like Carmack or Sweeney who can aggressively push back on ideas they feel are negative for the community. Although the comparison I bring up is a little funny since Carmack did work at Meta... So I think there is value in wanting to be a passionate successful figure beyond just personal gain. The question that should be asked is why we cannot have a society that has enough of a safety net for everyone so that they can work on what they care about? If that were to happen, what would you actually be working on? These questions are the reason why a lot of people wind up leaving software once they've accumulated enough of a financial safety net.
- scarface74 4y ago
  You mean the same Sweeney who makes millions selling loot boxes to whales and in app purchases for pay to win games? You notice he didn’t go after console makers who have the same policies as the mobile app stores because he knew where his money came from.
- deadbunny 4y ago
  As you say Carmack worked at Meta who ignored every promise they made when it relates to Occulus, not sure where he pushed back but it seems Meta doesn't care so he left, which is the same as any of us can do. As for Sweeney he doesn't care about the community, he cares about his bottom line. He may have some goals that overlap with "good for the community" (see challenging apple app store) but he also has goals that are community hostile (see Epic buying exclusives for its own store). Both of which are driven by the bottom line, not a care for the community. Money made by extracting money from literall children with dark pattern and skinner boxes.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    It came out in the Epic trial that 80% of App Store revenue comes from in all purchases for pay to win games. The myth of the indie developer being hurt by the App Store tax is just that. Besides, most businesses other than games that make money from mobile are selling services where money never goes through the App Store.
    - kelnos 4y ago
      > The myth of the indie developer being hurt by the App Store tax is just that. They statistic you presented does not support that assertion. 30% of your revenue is 30% of your revenue. Indie developers who have fewer distribution channels than a big name like Epic will of course be hurt more by the requirement that they share a big chunk of their revenue with their (often sole) distributor.
      - scarface74 4y ago

catach 4y ago

Specialization of passion. Nobody can or should be passionate about all the things. But we can be thankful for those who are passionate about the domains where we are not, since we collectively benefit from those domains being loved and nurtured. At least in many cases.

dvt 4y ago

> That begs the question, why do I want to be the most successful person in my field? I'm not sure how this begs any question. Some baristas work at coffee shops to make ends meet; others want to be the best at what they do and compete in barista competitions, learn to roast, maybe eventually start their own coffee shops, etc. Why some do the former while others do the latter is just a question of priorities, dreams, desires, and so on.

waboremo 4y ago

There's another layer to this, people who work for a simple exchange of money (and the important part is we're talking people making more than the average in the field, not somebody at mcdonalds) are prone to going along with decisions even if they negatively affect the community. To be passionate is to care about your work and the only way you can produce high quality sustainable work is to care. But most jobs aren't creating products/services worth caring about (or worse, harming/exploiting people) is the catch. See: the average Meta employee vs passionate successful figures like Carmack or Sweeney who can aggressively push back on ideas they feel are negative for the community. Although the comparison I bring up is a little funny since Carmack did work at Meta... So I think there is value in wanting to be a passionate successful figure beyond just personal gain. The question that should be asked is why we cannot have a society that has enough of a safety net for everyone so that they can work on what they care about? If that were to happen, what would you actually be working on? These questions are the reason why a lot of people wind up leaving software once they've accumulated enough of a financial safety net.

scarface74 4y ago
You mean the same Sweeney who makes millions selling loot boxes to whales and in app purchases for pay to win games? You notice he didn’t go after console makers who have the same policies as the mobile app stores because he knew where his money came from.
deadbunny 4y ago
As you say Carmack worked at Meta who ignored every promise they made when it relates to Occulus, not sure where he pushed back but it seems Meta doesn't care so he left, which is the same as any of us can do. As for Sweeney he doesn't care about the community, he cares about his bottom line. He may have some goals that overlap with "good for the community" (see challenging apple app store) but he also has goals that are community hostile (see Epic buying exclusives for its own store). Both of which are driven by the bottom line, not a care for the community. Money made by extracting money from literall children with dark pattern and skinner boxes.
- scarface74 4y ago
  It came out in the Epic trial that 80% of App Store revenue comes from in all purchases for pay to win games. The myth of the indie developer being hurt by the App Store tax is just that. Besides, most businesses other than games that make money from mobile are selling services where money never goes through the App Store.
  - kelnos 4y ago
    > The myth of the indie developer being hurt by the App Store tax is just that. They statistic you presented does not support that assertion. 30% of your revenue is 30% of your revenue. Indie developers who have fewer distribution channels than a big name like Epic will of course be hurt more by the requirement that they share a big chunk of their revenue with their (often sole) distributor.
    - scarface74 4y ago