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Is coding for money a mistake?

zooboole

Published By zooboole

On several occasions, I've had the opportunity to meet non-independent developers who complained about the fact that they are not free to invest their time and energy in their own ideas. [Many] Coders love working in the night. But, non-independent developers can't because they must be at work on the following day.

Often you meet people who tell you straight forward that they want to learn to code to make money. Developers make money. Developers create billions of dollars businesses with simple code. They will not hesitate to mention to you some names such as Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.

Some dream of making the money but not from their own idea. They, thus, the dream of working in the prestigious companies like Facebook or google, or any other business. Even when you choose to be a freelancer, you can still face the same challenges. You can decide to go for any project that pays you, or you only pick the ones that can improve your coding abilities.

But, let me not criticize here. In fact who doesn't dream like that? Most of us do. But, the question is to know if such attitude of hunting money can make of you a good or bad coder.

This situation then drew my attention to the subject that we will discuss here today: Could coding for money be a mistake?

It is a complex situation and it is almost impossible to say what is right or wrong. Being a developer can harden depending on the social environment to which one belongs to. Working for a company can be a boon for some and a Calvary for others. Sometimes we come across a company that pays developer enough that they do not even want to leave. In the other hand, some companies do not even know the value of a developer. All this is beautiful. But what are the true values of a developer? I summarize a few in this:

  1. Curiosity
  2. Ambition
  3. Determination
  4. Reasoning
  5. Freedom
  6. Love of Learning
  7. Passion for quality work
  8. Clear-headedness
  9. Independence

These are nine good characteristics of most developers and those are the first rights you loose wherever you start working for a company. Anyway, you still have some of your human rights hahaha.

If I am to answer this question with simple "Yes" or "No", I would go for a big Yes. Coding for money is a mistake. But, before I go into details of my opinion, let me explain once again what that means. I understand by that you are a developer who works only when he's paid to do so. He/she would never code if he/she is not paid for it. And coding for money also means you are hired to code. You have a calendar defined by someone else who might not be a coder or might not have any idea on how the project is going to be built. You will always receive these amazing questions: are you done? - When do you think we can launch? And those always come with some conditions:

  1. Less time for most projects
  2. you don't code what you want, but what others do
  3. Pressure will not allow you to focus on quality. Finishing is so important that you care less about the quality of your code
  4. You never get time to focus on improving your skills or learn
  5. You can remain stacked at one level for years without getting the opportunity to upgrade yourself.
  6. You will always go against your own logic
  7. Most clients don't even know what they want

I assume that as a developer we love to explore as much as possible possibilities with code. We love research, experiments, innovation. Any situation which doesn't make that favorable is hostile. And hostile situations can't make you grow.

To business owners, if you see your developers using you office facilities to learn instead of focussing on your work it means you are not giving them enough time or the opportunity to improve. We are never perfect and we always want to learn. Not getting an opportunity for that can be devastating.

Many times bosses complained to me on why I should learn in their offices. They assumed I was supposed to be perfect before being hired. Unfortunately, I can't. I need to keep upgrading myself every day.

The following tweet is a perfect example of a developer's dream:

To conclude let me tell you that this doesn't mean in no occasion that you should code for free. Here is to show the difference between a free-mind developer and the other one who is under monetary pressure. Besides, you should know that you can be lucky enough to meet these amazing businesses where you can enjoy such freedom as well. Focus and build something amazing every time you code.

Cover image by pixabay.com