Discussion of the Week: "Money or Passion?"
Tags: bestofdev, discuss
Published: 2023-12-07 22:13:22

In this weekly roundup, we highlight what we believe to be the most thoughtful, helpful, and/or interesting discussion over the past week! Though we are strong believers in healthy and respectful debate, we typically try to choose discussions that are positive and avoid those that are overly contentious.

Any folks whose articles we feature here will be rewarded with our Discussion of the Week badge. ✨

![The Discussion of the Week badge. It includes a roll of thread inside a speech bubble. The thread is a reference to comment threads.](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/yvizv31dpchucxic2lxc.png)

Now that y'all understand the flow, let's go! 🏃💨

## The Discussion of the Week

We're back with another excellent discussion! @mcharytoniuk initiated "[Money or Passion?](https://dev.to/mcharytoniuk/money-or-passion-3h51)" encouraging folks to talk about which one is a bigger driver behind their decision to work in software development.

{% embed https://dev.to/mcharytoniuk/money-or-passion-3h51 %}

Mateusz opens the discussion mentioning that though it may be a bit provocative, it's meant to be taken genuinely — I appreciated that self-awareness about starting up a topic that might trigger some hot takes. 🔥

They expand on this notion by driving home the point that they're really hoping to learn more about what motivates developers to get a career in this industry, noting that the job market is particularly grim right now for juniors and suggesting that things may worsen for mid- to senior-level devs next.

Mateusz even offers an anonymous poll hosted [on Reddit here](https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/189cvy6/money_or_passion/) for those who want to answer but would prefer to keep their response incognito. 

As with most discussions, the real interesting bits occur in the comments section. 🙂

@lnahrf weighs in, explaining how they were encouraged by those around them to join the industry... they also respectfully push back against the idea of salaries dropping for senior devs in this thoughtful comment:

{% embed https://dev.to/lnahrf/comment/2b712 %}

There are plenty of folks on both sides of the money/passion argument making a case for what's most important to them — no wrong answers here!

Gotta appreciate @chaoocharles' honesty in the following response:

{% embed https://dev.to/chaoocharles/comment/2b788 %}

Likewise and directly below that comment, you have @dustinbrett making the case for passion: 

{% embed https://dev.to/dustinbrett/comment/2b7fb %}

And of course, there are plenty other folks who claim both are equally important:

{% embed https://dev.to/ben/comment/2b7b8 %}

{% embed https://dev.to/learnwithparam/comment/2b78n %}

{% embed https://dev.to/montyharper/comment/2b71h %}

While @moopet falls on the side of neither:

{% embed https://dev.to/moopet/comment/2b7n6 %}

There are answers all over the map! Hop in there to see all the other awesome comments and let folks know what motivates you to be a developer — money or passion?

## What are your picks?

The DEV Community is particularly special because of the kind, thoughtful, helpful, and entertaining discussions happening between community members. As such, we want to encourage folks to participate in discussions and reward those who are initiating or taking part in conversations across the community. After all, a community is made possible by the people interacting inside it.

There are loads of great discussions floating about in this community. This is just the one we chose to highlight. 🙂

I urge you all to share your favorite discussion of the past week below in the comments. And if you're up for it, give the author an @mention — it'll probably make 'em feel good. 💚