ihgann
I had no idea when I was 12 years old writing silly video games (shoutout to [BYOND](https://www.byond.com), something I'm near-certain nobody on Hacker News has ever come across), that it was a venture that made money, let alone that it would culminate in a very fruitful and happy career (that I'm still very much early into). I oftentimes feel that I still get to just do what I love, and somebody is willing to pay me well for that.
But most of the side projects I want to work on don't align with my company, or its vision. So I still make them. I hack away at small projects that are over-engineered because it's fun, or really only target a usecase I have. They aren't production-quality changes, but they work for me, and I enjoy working on them.
When I entered the world of Silicon Valley, I realized how naive I was thta many people enter this career because it is well-paying, despite if they actually enjoy the process.
Not to get too sentimental here, but code is still magic to me. I'm just amazed that all of this works. To a small degree it bothers me that others just see this craft as an ends to a means (but then I remember that they aren't really hurting me, or this field, so it's OK, and I move on).
Maybe I just like cults ^_^