I think that the passion that is often sought in hiring candidates is slightly misguided. It's not uncommon to hear that the employer is looking for passionate

I think that the passion that is often sought in hiring candidates is slightly misguided. It's not uncommon to hear that the employer is looking for passionate $language engineers. Although this approach could be helpful in the short term, it's less helpful for the long term. Why? Because organizations and teams generally don't stay on the same technology stack for the long term. And what happens when the particular technology that someone is passionate about is phased out? Instead, I think it's more rational to be passionate about solving certain kinds of problems (not related to a specific language). The other potential downside of passionate developers is that being passionate can make one less objective. I would even argue that the engineering approach would favor dispassionate developers where they're more likely to be objective. FWIW.