At the same time, they have a side project that feeds their passions. It rarely pays well, if anything; but leaves the developer in complete control of what to do next and how long to do it.
The fact that those categories happen to overlap for a lucky few makes for a great commencement speech, but IME it's the extreme exception.
The good news is that there's really never been a better time to be a dabbler. Lots of tech things that used to have a huge barrier to entry are accessible at a hobbyist level now.
IME, it's been a way to get the best of both worlds:
* job pays the bills by leveraging some of my technical background
* hobbies replenish my emotional well-being and offer creative freedom (and are funded by the aforementioned 9-5).
P.S. Appreciate the parent explicitly noting the rarity of the "commencement speech" scenario.