I've worked on large projects for almost 10 years before I started working in the field, though perhaps not as complex as an emulator.
I dropped out of college due to medical reasons and was given the "opportunity" to receive disability benefits for the rest of my life. I accepted this and just continued my hobby doing programming. In that time I met many hobby programmers online who didn't seem to work or were temporarily taking breaks from studying to eventually find a job.
Eventually I felt a bit lonely not knowing anyone in real life who were interested in programming, so I found the meetup website and started going to events to get to know people. The friends I met there told me I should try working professionally as a programmer, so I tried and now I've been 5 years in the field and really enjoy it.
In retrospect being outside of the professional field, I knew it existed but it never crossed my mind that I could be part of this as it was for educated and highly experienced programmers only. Because of this maybe I never bothered to even try.
One issue for me entering the field was that I was highly specialized, but the field required me to be more general and perhaps specialize more in other things. Luckily for me I found the right people from the start with similar interests (game engine development, graphics rendering, etc) to help me understand the professional landscape.
I still find it satisfying to work on hobby projects in my spare time. I don't have as much time as before because of work and family, but I do manage to find the time now and then. :)
I fell into professional programming basically by accident... was a web developer by education and ended up being offered a position as a mobile developer for iOS as my first out-of-college career. Wasn't what I intended but they extended the offer and said offer included paid education in the field, so who was I to argue?
Years on I've gone through a few jobs and basically never used my web development degree for my day job, only really using it for side-gigs building websites for local businesses.
Good for you! Too many people are in it for the money and pure self interest.
Now, I like the money our profession pays, it’s great - but I’d by doing something with computers either way, so what a blessing to get rewarded financially as well.
Also, as an erstwhile professor who was at a top 3 program, a motivated and curious student is the best. If you had finished college you’d have done well with your attitude.
Right. In my experience, in nearly any professional discipline, words like 'passionate' and 'hungry' are often management euphemisms for 'has trouble drawing boundaries with work, and cares more about getting it done than work/life balance and their own wellbeing.' I think most of us get nerd sniped and spend half the night working on something every now and then, but that's not something any employer is entitled to.
I feel the opposite. I've been programming for fun since 13 and have a similar experience as op - where I did my own projects for ~10 years before I got a job. I always hated professional programming.
It's boring, problems I'm solving are technically trivial. Most of the real problem is tied to a domain I give 0 shits about and am so bored by that I have to force myself to stay focused. Things I build have practically no value to me, and often no value to anyone except that someone decided to allocate a budget that way.
I would never work on these projects if it didn't pay well. I would prefer craft work if it paid the same.
I'm not complaining though ! I live very comfortably, I came from extreme poverty and I don't see any realistic alternative path that would end me in a better situation.
But I think expecting people to do most programming jobs out of passion is not realistic. If you're really good maybe you'll land in a role that gets you doing something technically innovating that also pays well but I'd say that's top few % of devs, most of us are in the dredges where enthusiastic people are a detriment (worst projects I've seen were a result of someone trying to be too clever for their own good, not lacking skill)
You yourself say the financial rewards are a blessing. Sounds like you’re in it for the money, too. If you’re not, your boss might OK a 20 or 30% salary decrease should you request it.
It is possible to be involved in something for various reasons, but it does not mean that one should willingly forego a benefit. "In it for the money" implies that the primary motivation is high pay, whereas "not in it for the money" indicates a strong preference for the type of work and a willingness to accept lower pay if market rates were to decrease.
Replace programmer with dentist, trading or lawyer, how many work on it by passion ? On evenings unpaid side projects? For guitarists, or artists its not the same (hint: which pays generally more?) , so I would say programmer is a middle ground, from cobol bank programmer to gamedev
I'd bet you've got a very skewed view of how people who make their living programming do this outside of learning something to help them get a better job.
I dropped out of college due to medical reasons and was given the "opportunity" to receive disability benefits for the rest of my life. I accepted this and just continued my hobby doing programming. In that time I met many hobby programmers online who didn't seem to work or were temporarily taking breaks from studying to eventually find a job.
Eventually I felt a bit lonely not knowing anyone in real life who were interested in programming, so I found the meetup website and started going to events to get to know people. The friends I met there told me I should try working professionally as a programmer, so I tried and now I've been 5 years in the field and really enjoy it.
In retrospect being outside of the professional field, I knew it existed but it never crossed my mind that I could be part of this as it was for educated and highly experienced programmers only. Because of this maybe I never bothered to even try.
One issue for me entering the field was that I was highly specialized, but the field required me to be more general and perhaps specialize more in other things. Luckily for me I found the right people from the start with similar interests (game engine development, graphics rendering, etc) to help me understand the professional landscape.
I still find it satisfying to work on hobby projects in my spare time. I don't have as much time as before because of work and family, but I do manage to find the time now and then. :)