HACKER Q&A
📣 satyanash

As an engineer, is your brain corrupted by money?


I recently discovered that my brain's incentives had been 'corrupted' by money.

Earlier, when I used to program for fun and for zero money, I was enjoying it a lot and pursued it solely out of curiosity.

Then I started getting paid (relatively) big bucks. I kept telling myself that this was all a side-effect of the curiosity.

But it turns out that now, a high-enough pay raise is enough to discourage me from pursuing mastery.

Maybe my preference has shifted from mastery to delivery, but I am not sure if I like that.

So, how do you, as an Engineer, undo this 'corruption' of incentives to your brain by money?

  👤 NoOneNew Accepted Answer ✓
Ever think it's because you're older and your priorities have changed? You have to break an egg to make an omelet. You need a scythe to cut wheat, beat it to thresh it and pulverize it to make flour.

I used to be idealistic too. Once you reach a certain age (24 for me), unicorn farts dont pay for your grocery bill and farmers won't spend a growing season to give you food for free. Find something that can pay the bills and find something you love to do. They dont have to be the same thing. If you find one that can do both, you hit the lottery. Dont feel bad if you didnt hit the lottery. I fully embraced the mercenary mindset right around 25 (8 years ago). Once I figured out the contracting and business world to a realistic level, and separated work from life, I've been happy with life. Before that, where my life had to be work because silicon valley said so, I wont lie, I wanted to jump off a bridge.