4 ms·

You're describing an artisan/craftsperson. They are professions of slight artistic variation inside a manual product frame, supported by customers who want/need

You're describing an artisan/craftsperson. They are professions of slight artistic variation inside a manual product frame, supported by customers who want/need to buy from small producers. My mom is a ceramist, and she would much rather make 100 identical (to me) teacups than one ambitious sculpture. The sculpture might even eventually pay more. I don't get it either, but some people enjoy this path.

makerdiety 3y ago
Your mother enjoys stability. That's what this path is. It's stable and predictable. After all, trying to reach for a million dollars is much more unstable than the one thousand dollars you know you can more easily obtain. So, this means that indie game devs and other craftsmen are the opposite of research and development types. Craftsmen are exactly like technicians or nurses who have two year Associate's degrees. The people who do research and development are the real entrepreneurs and four year Bachelor's degree holders equivalents. They're more expensive to start up and maintain too. So, they could use bigger funding for their research labs which enable them to conduct risky and unproven experiments. A traditional startup is nothing more than an open world scientific lab with which to test and validate some macro-economic and business hypotheses. It all boils down to steady and simple paycheck versus risky yet potentially very rewarding research, development, experimentation, and study that has an analogue in decade long secondary and post-secondary education.
- zemvpferreira 3y ago
  To a point. The thing about craftspeople in modern times is that they are mostly fungible/replaceable by other goods. I buy artisan bread most weeks, but if I don't feel like it I can get decent bread from any supermarket these days. It seems stable, but compared to salaried career? You're always hustling for very little money. My mom is independently wealthy, which helps support the teacup-making.

makerdiety 3y ago

Your mother enjoys stability. That's what this path is. It's stable and predictable. After all, trying to reach for a million dollars is much more unstable than the one thousand dollars you know you can more easily obtain. So, this means that indie game devs and other craftsmen are the opposite of research and development types. Craftsmen are exactly like technicians or nurses who have two year Associate's degrees. The people who do research and development are the real entrepreneurs and four year Bachelor's degree holders equivalents. They're more expensive to start up and maintain too. So, they could use bigger funding for their research labs which enable them to conduct risky and unproven experiments. A traditional startup is nothing more than an open world scientific lab with which to test and validate some macro-economic and business hypotheses. It all boils down to steady and simple paycheck versus risky yet potentially very rewarding research, development, experimentation, and study that has an analogue in decade long secondary and post-secondary education.

zemvpferreira 3y ago
To a point. The thing about craftspeople in modern times is that they are mostly fungible/replaceable by other goods. I buy artisan bread most weeks, but if I don't feel like it I can get decent bread from any supermarket these days. It seems stable, but compared to salaried career? You're always hustling for very little money. My mom is independently wealthy, which helps support the teacup-making.