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Comment by blhack | Hacker News Reader

You're missing the point.

Most geeks that I know aren't trying to build apps that make money, they're trying to build apps that are fun, and that their friends think are fun.

If you offered me two choices

A) Make a million dollars a year doing something you hate that nobody will know about or care about

B) Make no money doing something you love that your friends think is cool.

I will almost always choose B, and I think most hackers will also always choose B. I would go as far as saying that choosing B is one of the defining characteristics of a hacker.

I got into computers because it was fun, not because I saw dollar signs at the end of it. Writing a video sharing app is a lot more fun than writing a software that reduces credit card fraud.

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You're frontloading the question. What if it was:

A) Make a million dollars a year doing something you love that nobody will know about or care about OR

B) Make no money doing something you hate that your friends think is cool?

...

If the question that you're trying to ask is, with all other things being equal, would you:

A) Make a million dollars a year doing something that none of your friends would know about or care about OR

B) Make no money doing something that your friends think is cool.

I would choose A every time. Also I'm not sure how you can say that writing a video sharing application is a lot more fun that writing software that reduces credit card fraud without knowing about the techniques used in the particular pieces of software. I'm interested in algorithms and neat techniques, not sharing videos or credit card fraud.

I'm still vain enough to think I'm a hacker, though:)

When I was younger, all I wanted to do was make video games. But as I got older, I found I had writing business apps was more fun (especially when I picked the language).

    A) Make a million dollars a year doing something you hate that nobody will know about or care about

If you got million dollars paid for the thing you built, that is million times "know about" + million times "care about"

    B) Make no money doing something you love that your friends think is cool.
    I will almost always choose B, and I think most hackers will also always choose B. 
    I would go as far as saying that choosing B is one of the defining characteristics of a hacker.

One can find the golden path to make something one loves, something his friends think it is cool and yet, something which million people will find it worth paying a dollar a year.

Doing cool things, things "friend think it is cool" is nice, but you cannot go to the grocery with, nor pay your bills with it, right? Besides, that cool thing, will soon loose it glory to something cooler unless it will be maintained and evolved. Money is a great way having one stick to a project and keep it up and running.

Can't you have both? Take option A for a few years. Save most of that money, then quit. Take option B for a lot longer than you could have if you didn't take option A first.

But seriously, I understand that option A almost never pays that well and is usually not guaranteed. For example, working for stock options that you'll most likely never see vest.

Also option B is not guaranteed to make no money either, and at least you like option B. So, I'd take B too.

Am I correct in my opinion that people following option A tend to be, though perhaps not universally, driven by a certain kind of greed that promotes cold, unfeeling non-authenticity? These effects ripple throughout our society at a deep level.

Some superficial examples--Zynga, advertisements for female facial creams, etc. But I feel it goes much deeper. It's like an emergent phenomenon, a parasitic infliction upon our society. Imagine where those dollars and energies and attentions could go.

I haven't looked for the article I am talking about since I last read it (back when dead trees still dominated). So I can't vouch for its veracity anymore. Its essence may be interesting or jog someone else's memory. (I may try to find it later)

The article stated that a group of college (MBA perhaps) students was surveyed and asked "would you work for the highest paying salary once you graduate?", or "would you work for what you want to do and enjoy after you leave college."

The answers were compared against reality and the respondents life after a few years - It showed that whoever chose to do what they were interested in were more successful in monetary and career terms than people who chose to follow just the cash.

It does have further support, in that we generally value passion and drive as key predictors of success over someones ability to choose better paying jobs.

Writing a video sharing app is a lot more fun than writing a software that reduces credit card fraud.

I knew a guy who wrote software to reduce credit card fraud and he thought it was great fun with lots cool statistical analysis and data mining problems to play with. And personally I think that sounds a lot more fun than writing video sharing apps.

this is true. definition of hacker is being always hungry for challenge. nothing to do with being cool... damn, we are freaking introverts, right?

I would take A without question. After just a year or two I'd have enough money to work on my own fun-as-can-be-but-will-never-make-money projects for a decade or two.

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