Do not code for the money

What you think I rap for to push a fuckin Rav 4?! ~ Kanye West

A number of times I have been approached by good friends and family members asking "Adim how did you know software was going to be big?" or questions like "Should I get into software?" and the worst "What is going to be the next hot job in the future?".

As much as I am tempted to take the bait and make myself look smarter and wiser than I was, I always come back with what I imagine is a very disappointing answer to them "I don't know, I just found it interesting"

Times are different now, when I started dabbling around in the late 90s and early 2000's programming was not trendy. It was not something people thought about when they wanted to make money. It was more of a calling at the time. People for one reason or the other got exposed to it and you either loved it or you did not. A couple years later and the rise of Silicon Valley billionaires and everyone wants to make an app. People from the outside start imagining making the next billion dollar app and wonder how the people already in the game before them could have foreseen this treasure chest that is software development today.

The thing a lot of people do not understand and also why I write this blog is that software development is an art. Have you ever heard someone say they wanted to become a painter because of the money? or they wanted to become a writer to make money? It is the lack of understanding of this point that people look at you weird when you advise them not to code for the money. Like the guys at 37 signals said, writing software should not be a chore. It will show in your work if you are not passionate about it. It is surprisingly easy to decipher the people who love coding and the people that don't.

For those who were born at a time when their interest and skills aligned with the zeitgeist of the time, they were lucky. As much as I encourage everyone to learn to code, I think you have to do it for the right reasons. If you want to create, you want to make change, you want to solve problems then coding is for you. If you are looking for a get rich quick scheme, we see you.