I think as with all human undertakings some are externally motivated and some ar

Note 2026-10-28T06:39:38+00:00 View original ->

I think as with all human undertakings some are externally motivated and some are internally motivated. And I think internally motivated ones ("I want to make money"/"I want to be famous" isn't internal by this definition, since it relies on others' reactions) end up being ones where you care about diligence. You care about the process, because the process itself is what you enjoy, at least as much if not more than having the final thing "produced".
Software is in this weird situation where it has (ok, had, whatever, I'm still in denial) good commercial standing so doing the thing diligently could (have) often correlated with external validation as well. I think that made us all confused about what our motivations for doing what we do are. I know I've slipped down the "this is good for the business" slope several times only to realize it hurts my soul later on. I haven't stopped doing it, I like having a salary to pay for life, but doing it with the full awareness that I'm making a trade-off and not confusing my motivation does alleviate the internal discomfort of it.

Comments

kunev@cannot.understand.computer ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I'd go full-on on your theory and propose that the love of diligence is the result of some internal psychological peculiarity of people. I feel like you're alluding to this, but just not saying it out loud (or I'm projecting my thoughts on your writing way too much 😄). Literally there's a type of neuro divergence that makes people overindex on diligence and observance of details rather than the (at least theoretically) evolutionary beneficial outcome focused approach that cares about getting it done, not getting it done good.

For a long time religion was what offered an outlet for that need. Also art or crafts, but they just all ended up under the umbrella of religion in some way as you mention. The enlightenment offered an alternative with science which lacked the requirement of a divine being, but ultimately still relied heavily on the diligence part and doing things for the sake of doing them, rather then for the "practical use".

Software then feels like the next step in this. It's more accessible than science, easier to start with and with much more positive economic prospects (at least until somewhat recently).

CC: @iris_meredith@mastodon.social
iris_meredith@mastodon.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
@kunev
Ah, that mythical beastie, the salary.