This thought experiment have been plague my head a year behind, what if I got CS degree just for passion not profession ? How if I doing so?
That may sound stupid right because passion can shining bright then die and gone. While profession giving you resource to continue live.
In my local, people who purse passion could considered stupid, they said pursue such thing only bring uncertainty and deluded, "Your passion will not feed you, career and profession is!". It's said by someone who said child and marriage is ultimate happiness, what a colonialist favorite serf way of thinking. The factual is both are too gray to determine : raising familiy and pursuing passion.
Despite deluded, passion is way to escape chokingly boring routine and colorless world, also when seed of breakthrough. Ken Thompson able to write Unix, C and Go because his passion for logic and arithmatic even he calucalte arithmatic in binary forms! just because it fun. Keep in mind those achievement is no achieve in mere month or years but almost his entire lifetime and bravery to took different stance (calculating in binary).
But Yukari, Ken is works as scientist not cook? Yes, that passion that become profession, and profession not always fit with passion. Bill Gates said "You have no job because you passion become profession" is capitalistic rhetoric to turn your passion to money printing device for capitalist so they can be richer and you barely a live, you lost your fun beside money and a room to be creative without burden, a rainbow who lost it colors.
The bad passion is a passion who lost it's fun and rewarding experience then lost enthusiatsm and become boring routine.
Took example Spinoza, his dedicated his life for philosophy while works in his life as lens polisher. His ousted because his philosophical view threating status quo and made him not able pursue academic, and yet he still doing philosophy anyway after lens job.
Both Thompson and Spinoza they have something in common : how to make passion still burning ?
Passion is like torch, you need fuel to need it burning and you need rest for handling it, a torch that guide you to way you want. Its different from ambition that prisoned our heart to achive the goal, passion is way of pilgrim not sprint. So balance is key, then how to stay in passion?
Austin McKleon write Keep Going book that talk about keeping getting creative in good or bad times. More like passion. One in his answer to getting pump it in works is have creative routine, a routine that make you stay balance do to you creative things. Seems contradict with I said boring routine, then beat it with another routine, like thread vs thread.
Let make thing clear first. Passion is for inner fullfilment such rewarding achivement, self actualization. Profession for outside fullfilment such money to survive, status for social confidence. Both need align well and not collisied each other, so you can survive and fulfilled.
Reading topic about compiler and take note when you lunch time as lumberjack, or reading book about topic you love or practicing hobby in weekend. I know this is hard, especially when you works mentally exhausting like software engineer that habbit to remember code at job when off-day or even you brain already paralyze to thinking anything after clock pas 5 pm.
Take rest from passion is also important, making passion boring is like burning a meadow in middle of summer day. A good rest for passion like intermintent fasting or diet or dopamine detox. Preventing it become boring and keeping still interesting is the task. Bringging back boring passion to burning back is pain-in ass, worse if there no novelty to burn passion, then is like resurecting the death back to live.
Passion is temporary, Profession is temporary. Profession bound by contract and law, Passion maintained by care and love. The former is limited and the latter limitless. Your life is short and limited like finite automata, balanced both limited and limitless, prioritize how to survive first then burning the survived life with passion, learn and gain wisdom, Eudamonia.