I'm Not Passionate About Software Engineering

often we're told to do what we love. To be honest, that's not really what I'm doing, and I'm okay with that. You should be too. In this video, I go over precisely how I feel about software engineering and why I'm not passionate about it, as well as some considerations for those of you in college or already graduated who are interested / already in the field!
-----

Books I like
-----

My Equipment!
-----

------

If you’re new to the channel: welcome ~ I’m Michael and I'm a rising senior at Carnegie Mellon University studying Information Systems. I make new videos every week about college and tech

Contents
------
0:00 Intro & Agenda
0:28 Part 1
1:26 Part 2
3:46 Part 3

[joevasconcelos]

I was passionate about software until about 1 year into the working field. Then you realize that you’re just building someone else’s business and dream. But software provides myself and my family opportunities to own a home, save commuting time, the ability to work autonomously, go on trips etc. so it beats out any other 9-5 in my opinion

[thequang]

thanks for making me feel like im not alone :)

[FitbyWillZ]

Great video, not enough people talk about this! The thing is, even with passions, if you want to make money off of it, there will be many things about working your passion that will be difficult and boring regardless

[sungjuyea]

Wish you a good luck for your future career in Amazon! Great to listen to a POV!

IMHO, passion comes along with money. If one is pursuing one's own goal that is not much lucrative, either one is extraordinary IN that goal or one is being supported by a well-being family.

[lgodlike]

Love the sight ! Thank you very much for talking about this !

[raq]

Im not into network engineering but i have no other option and i cant do anything or switch.. Ty for sharing your experience, it gave me hope :)

[drakata]

I started my first year in uni as a comp sc student and I feel very eager to learn. The lectures are interesting to me and im eager to learn. Also in the past months I worked on side projects. I hope this enthusiasm doesn't wear off. I am curios were you like this when you started you first year in uni/college? Also congratulations on starting at Amazon, I think this is goal for many aspiring software engineers :)

[knami]

I used to love coding, programming in hs, second year in uni and I hated it, just doing it as a job basically.

[kingdrew]

I am freshman at college and pursuing software engineering. I choose for the pay and all the other crazy benefits this degree has. however, so far I have been really struggling with my classes and ik its only gonna get harder and so far I have not been enjoying it and also my interests and passions are opposite of this. But idk ehat other degree will be this good thats buisness related

[saidibra]

you work as front back-end or full stack developer ?

[brownstudios]

its a job. some are cashiers because they love it and some are cashiers because they need money to exist. same thing.

[mahmutalkhuiski]

I learned software engineering to apply it in Geophysics

[jaredciccarello]

I know this video was made 8 months ago but, have things suddenly changed? I'm completing a bootcamp now with Python as my primary language and I don't think I'll ever make any money doing this. I have reached out to multiple forums, meetups, and veterans communities inside of my bootcamp and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. Everyone just tells me to keep networking, these same people are also struggling to make any money from software engineering because they can't find work. The people that do find work have had family or close friends get them a job at AWS.

I just feel so defeated when Miso says, I like software engineering because it provides me money and time to do things I like. Right now I'm in a bootcamp and aside from finishing up labs and assignments, all I do is stay at home and try to muster the energy to sign up to meetups or send resumes. I'm on my last 3 months of the bootcamp and I feel like I'm so stressed out that I won't ever get a job that it'll always be like this.

I haven't got very many positives from most of the reading I've done, other than that it's a highly lucrative and rewarding job. Which is fine but, I keep being told that it's nearly impossible to get a job, especially when I'm brand new to software engineering and have no network within this field. I'm trying to break out of this cycle of anxiety, which is why I'm writing this. Which actually helped, I do see a way forward but sometimes it feels like between my low skills, my lack of network, and strict job field. That I'll never actually break into tech.

[ramey]

what about living abroad in the US far away from family, to pursue it for the money . While being far away from family? Would it still be worth it, I think it'll open doors .

[tehama]

Interesting. I've always viewed CS and software engineering as a set of tools. Not dissimilar to a calculator or a mouse and keyboard. What it is that we CHOOSE to do with those tools is what matters.

If you just show up to some random team that hiring committee assigned you to, that's one thing.

On the other hand, let's say a SWE is working on a team that is doing groundbreaking work in cancer research. In this example, we're talking about 'this will cure Cancer' type stuff. Let's also say that SWE lost someone very close to them to cancer. For that person, maybe they feel like each PR is bringing them that much closer to a cure. Maybe they couldn't be happier or more passionate. And it isn't just because they're a SWE, it's because of what they're applying it to.

I agree that just being a SWE isn't a thing to be passionate about, since our discipline really has no tangible affects or meaning until it's applied to something.

But if you find that thing that resonates with you; something that you feel is bigger than you. If you're able to apply your abilities towards that; I think that would be where the passion comes from.

I hope you find your reason why, soon brother.

[bobbyjonas]

I am passionate because I work on my own product. I made a chat site called Musique where you can watch Youtube with others in ANY room. Can I sponsor a video of yours perhaps?

[johnvandyke-mensah]

@misotech did you take data structures and algorithms in college?

[jayrollo]

Bro it's Amazon. Ofc you're not gona be passionate about it. I'm a newgrad at G and it's still hard and stressful.

[rileyp]

Coding is just a tool. Carpenters aren’t passionate about hammers. It’s what you’re making that you could be passionate about. When you’re working for someone else especially at a big company, you’re usually not going to be passionate about the small part you’re making in a product