Probably 99% of non-tech professionals start business to make money. Do you think your plumber started his business thinking of making the world a better place? Highly unlikely except for HIS own world.
Yes, do it for the money.. it’s OK.
Yes, do it for the money.. it’s OK.
For the tradespeople I have known, the answer is yes. They also like getting paid, of course. But they find satisfaction in making the world better one sink at a time. Otherwise spending 40 years as plumber would be an absolutely miserable experience.
I found the documentary "Jiro dreams of sushi" illustrative (in the opposite extreme). I believe most of us would fall somewhere in between (... aaaand, we get to Maslow again :)
If by "change the world" you mean narcissistic grandiosity about being in the history books, yeah, that's generally ridiculous. But small things also change the world. Raising kids. Installing sinks. Fixing roofs. Serving a meal. All of these things make the world a little better.
This is distinct from what Graeber called "bullshit jobs". Making sure that you use the new cover sheet on the TPS report that nobody will read, for example. Some people are happy doing bullshit. But trades have the appeal of doing something undeniably real, undeniably beneficial.
So yes, as I said, I believe that somebody who started a solo plumbing business is absolutely thinking of making the world a better place. And I think they do it every day.
Absolutely, making more money is a big motivator for entrepreneurs across the board, including plumbing entrepreneurs.
true, but would it be wrong to assume that the following ratio:
(the number of people who are passionate about xyz and curiosity and pure joy are major driving forces) / (total number of people working in xyz)
is probably much higher for cs than for plumbing?
Don't know about the passion, but they really are making the world a better place, one clogged drain at a time.
We work in a different medium, but at a high level I think the process can look very similar, and there's satisfaction in a job well done
I met too many business people who just wanted to run a startup no matter if it was software or physical products.
If anything it's kind of a personal issue.
Surely most scientific discovery comes along with passion and curiosity, so there's some overlap there, but most work doesn't get done out of either of those things. Most of the things that move the ball forward are a grind.
In the cases you're probably thinking that should include, the marketers, sales people, operations staff, recruiters, and basically anyone else who keeps the business running.
You either think software engineers are so powerful as to effect the direction of these large businesses, in which case, you're wrong.
Or that somehow people earning a better living for themselves given the current climate which is almost uniformly stacked against the standard worker is wrong.
I think you should step back and look at the actual causes like their boards, investors and senior management as well as the government.
To note I say this with a clear conscience since I've never worked at any of the Big Co's at this point in time by choice.
btw. think about a b2b business. think about an erp software. there is lots or room for specializing, just like the businesses you will make it for. i run an engineering an production company, and just because there was nothing there, we made our own. i am happy to share it, leave me a message if interested.