This reminds me of the old "Good is the enemy to great" saying. The author's thoughts rang very true to me. As programmers, it's true, times are good, salarie

This reminds me of the old "Good is the enemy to great" saying. The author's thoughts rang very true to me. As programmers, it's true, times are good, salaries are high, employment is easy to come by. Sometimes I can't believe how much "easer" it is to live on compared to my non-tech friends & neighbors. But at the same time, that benefit it the worst drawback. I am that programmer he is talking to. Even though, in the past I have started my own company, and have worked at "scary, early stage startups", I now have a good job, good pay, and I have been the one who has turned down interesting, challenging, fun-sounding opportunities because of "the risk", the "uncertainty". I miss those days of being fully engaged in what you are building, waking up thinking about the problem, coming up with the solution while you are in the shower. and building it that day. I guess if I am trying to say anything, it is that maybe we need to reassess the proper kind "risk" as being a plus instead of a negative. Certainly there are are dumb risks, and startups that might make a ton of money but would not be worth thinking about in the shower, or give you that "I'm making the world better" feeling. But the risk of doing something you love, having to give it all you've got, knowing that if you don't build this, no one else will, and that the world will be a better place with it? That's not risk, that's happiness, which is what I'd be spending my money on anyways.