I understand the background of the "passion" conversation (e.g., PG's take) but I've begun to think it's way too biased.
At some point in my life I became obsessed with software and very quickly went from zero to getting paid. Now I am, as one of the other comments in this thread said, a 'white suit' consultant. I work in SV from NN time zones away and have been given complete autonomy over the project I'm working on. Some would call that a dream job. It's certainly different from the 'dark suit' consulting I used to do, where who I was / how I appeared was just as important as what I delivered.
A close friend of mine, on the other hand, has risen to the top of their industry and is one of the most driven and hard working people I know -- but they are decidedly not obsessed with or passionate about their field. It's just their career. They take it seriously and always give 100%, but catching an after-work conversation from them would be along the lines of 'fuck this nonsense'.
Years ago I suggested this person 'find their passion', hop careers, start a company, whatever. They never did. They're still doing well in their career and they still have a 'meh' relationship with it at the end of the day. When I say doing well I mean they're senior management and close to being offered a CEO/MD title.
Passion certainly helped me succeed in software. But it's not something I cultivated. It was something I needed to do, wasn't at the time and which was manifesting in other ways (e.g., baroque engineering hobbies). I didn't find or develop my passion for software, I just, one day, found that this obsession was a good fit for software. Because it's one of the more lucrative fields to be in today, it was an easy decision to pursue it.
But there are plenty of successful people who are not obsessed with anything. The majority probably. They strive towards excellence, because that is their character, but they could have done a dozen other things with an equal amount of dedication and wouldn't have fallen in love with any of them.
Obsession can be an advantage and the minority that have found a fit between their obsession and a lucrative career tend to think it's necessary. I did for a long time. But at the end of the day you're just creating value. You can choose to do that which just as much success as those who need to.
On the other hand, you could just as easily be obsessed with something that's not lucrative or even self destructive. Sometimes that pays off (e.g., someone obsessed with BASE jumping may eventually find sponsors). Sometimes not (they die before reaching that point).
I think a lot of this passion talk boils down to 'we had an aptitude for X when X was in demand and a good way to make money'. People are over-generously distilling that to 'passion=money'.
At some point in my life I became obsessed with software and very quickly went from zero to getting paid. Now I am, as one of the other comments in this thread said, a 'white suit' consultant. I work in SV from NN time zones away and have been given complete autonomy over the project I'm working on. Some would call that a dream job. It's certainly different from the 'dark suit' consulting I used to do, where who I was / how I appeared was just as important as what I delivered.
A close friend of mine, on the other hand, has risen to the top of their industry and is one of the most driven and hard working people I know -- but they are decidedly not obsessed with or passionate about their field. It's just their career. They take it seriously and always give 100%, but catching an after-work conversation from them would be along the lines of 'fuck this nonsense'.
Years ago I suggested this person 'find their passion', hop careers, start a company, whatever. They never did. They're still doing well in their career and they still have a 'meh' relationship with it at the end of the day. When I say doing well I mean they're senior management and close to being offered a CEO/MD title.
Passion certainly helped me succeed in software. But it's not something I cultivated. It was something I needed to do, wasn't at the time and which was manifesting in other ways (e.g., baroque engineering hobbies). I didn't find or develop my passion for software, I just, one day, found that this obsession was a good fit for software. Because it's one of the more lucrative fields to be in today, it was an easy decision to pursue it.
But there are plenty of successful people who are not obsessed with anything. The majority probably. They strive towards excellence, because that is their character, but they could have done a dozen other things with an equal amount of dedication and wouldn't have fallen in love with any of them.
Obsession can be an advantage and the minority that have found a fit between their obsession and a lucrative career tend to think it's necessary. I did for a long time. But at the end of the day you're just creating value. You can choose to do that which just as much success as those who need to.
On the other hand, you could just as easily be obsessed with something that's not lucrative or even self destructive. Sometimes that pays off (e.g., someone obsessed with BASE jumping may eventually find sponsors). Sometimes not (they die before reaching that point).
I think a lot of this passion talk boils down to 'we had an aptitude for X when X was in demand and a good way to make money'. People are over-generously distilling that to 'passion=money'.