If you wouldn't do your job for FREE, then QUIT.

http://www.bernmedical.com/1/post/2011/08/if-you-wouldnt-do-your-job-for-free-then-quit.html

by dfuhriman • 15 years ago

21 22 15 years ago

I wonder if anyone really loves working for McDonald's, or if this kind of advice is only supposed to apply to privileged middle-class (and above) folks?

wccrawford3• 15 years ago

There are actually people that enjoy those jobs. There aren't enough of them to fill those jobs, though.

But then, I think most people wouldn't enjoy any job, no matter what it was...

TomOfTTB3• 15 years ago

Some jobs are a way of working yourself up to the job you'd do for free and that's what a McDonalds job is to people who aren't stuck in it. If I were the author I'd make that an addendum.

pessimizer• 15 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_end_job

pavel_lishin2• 15 years ago

Even for privileged middle+1 class folks, this advice is ridiculous. There aren't that many people that can quit their job and be near-guaranteed to find something better.

Can anyone name a field for which that's true, not counting software development? Even among us, that's not even true for 50% of programmers.

wccrawford3• 15 years ago

If you would do your job for free, you're an idiot and I don't want you on my team.

I've liked almost every job I've ever had, and loved some of them. I would never have done any of them for free.

Even when I was volunteering during high school, I got free food and discounts on parts.

TomOfTTB3• 15 years ago

I think you're missing the point. My take on what he's saying is "If you had a billion dollars and money was absolutely no object would you still do your job". Hence the "remember when you were 12" line calling back to a time when money is not a primary concern.

wccrawford3• 15 years ago

No, I got that. And I still wouldn't work for free.

Even if I worked for myself, I'd expect my efforts to reward me.

burgerbrain• 15 years ago

If I had a billion dollars, I would do nothing... or maybe two chicks at the same time ;)

But seriously, I'd set sail and never put a foot on land again. About the most work I'd do is rigging and some weight lifting. I would do that until the day I die, which with any luck would be sooner rather than later (being old and rich doesn't appeal to me almost as much as being old and poor). Does this mean I should look for jobs doing those things right now instead of in tech? No, that's silly. In fact, the best chance I have right now for ever being at the point in my life where I can do that is if I stay in tech and work my ass off for a decent paycheck.

daimyoyo• 15 years ago

I have read some bad advice here before, but this ranks among the worst. I would like nothing more than to spend my days sleeping in and my nights creating the next Angry Birds but I live in the real world. There's 14% unemployment here. I don't have my pick of jobs and until I have a major win with the software I create, odds are I won't. I'm very glad that this person has a Utopian philosophy that everyone should only do what they're truly passionate about, but here on Earth that isn't the case for 99.99% of society.

Vitaly• 15 years ago

I think you are taking it way too literally and narrow. I might not have chosen to work at this specific customer project if they wouldn't pay ;), but I would definitely program in my spare time if I had a non programming job. So, fo me, I do for the living what I would do for free anyway.

rpwilcox• 15 years ago

I almost feel like saying, "If you would do your job for free, quit", just to be flamebait-ey.

Hewever, I think there's a level of professionalism that comes with getting paid (ie: you feel bad slacking off reading HN), but if you're working for free, then I can see it turning into: "Hey, let's try framework Z, because it looks like fun!" (not because of client requirements). "OH LOOK, HASKELL ON A HORSE! I've never written Haskell, but let's try it for the Foo subsystem!"

Yes, this is too simplistic, ie the open source community. Usually when I work on open source stuff it falls out of client work (I want X to be better, I found a bug in Y, etc).

Then again, I've been a contractor for the last 8 years, so I might have a different view than a independent software vendor with their own product lineup.

(Yes, I am working on my own product, but not because I want to work for free: it's because I want to create a revenue stream and get paid.)

kgtm• 15 years ago

So what did I love doing when I was 12? Playing soccer. But as I explored what it was that I loved about soccer, I loved being the best player on the team. I loved leading the team. I loved playing creatively, doing the unexpected. I loved quickly finding solutions to problems on the field and planning tactics before the game to get an advantage. I loved practice and constantly improving. Now I do the same things that I loved when I was 12- but I do them with tech companies.

This greatly reminded me of Randy Pausch's last speech [1]. Please, if you haven't seen it already, you should find some time, today.

As for the author's points, it seems like some people are missing the point. He is not saying you should work for free. He is saying that if you involve yourself professionally in something you are deeply passionate about, something you would enjoy doing in your free time, everything else will come. And by everything else one means fulfillment, expertise and inevitably money.

You are better off seeking that something sooner rather than later. Hence, quit now. Find in. Enjoy it. Make money.

My 0,02 €.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

kerryiob• 15 years ago

This sense of entitlement and immaturity, especially considering how lucky we are to even have jobs where we sit in front on computers all day, drives me crazy.

I think the world of startups is unfortunately filled with youth that expect candy and fun and complain when it isn't, all the while making enough money to put them in the top %10 of salaried wage earners on earth.

Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing more Marines in startups. Running up steep mountains in sub-zero temps while being shot at after not sleeping for a week, on top of being hungry would give you some perspective on what to complain about.

spaghetti• 15 years ago

Since college I've quit four well-paying jobs despite my family and friends urging me not to. I quit because the jobs were not a good investment of my time. Every day I spent at those jobs made me less valuable to the employers I desired to work for.

After quitting each job I lived from savings and worked diligently creating my own products. The products themselves were not spectacularly successful. However they did help me get my current job which is awesome.

My point: try to make sure you invest your time wisely. Jobs don't need to be perfect (none are) but they should help you advance to the next "gig" (own company, early retirement, better job etc).

allenc• 15 years ago

Somebody else has already went through the same idea and over the course of months thoroughly denounced its viability:

http://calnewport.com/blog/

Being passionate isn't a substitute for mastery, getting burned out by hard work, and general marketability of an idea or product. No matter now passionate you might be about widget-building, your lack of skill and the lack of a market for widgets is the cold hard reality.

If you wouldn't do your job for FREE, then QUIT.

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