Yup, it's true

[pyesetz]

My favourite computer programs to write are the ones that someone else has already given up on and declared "impossible".  Oh yeah?  Well, we'll see about that!

Comments

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

I remember getting that one once. At the time, I was doing something that people said couldn't be done – and I had been doing it for over 20 years, too – and the sense of accomplishment did give me a great deal of pride. What that something didn't give me, however, was a career and a real living, which is why at 60 I'm now struggling to just feed myself and keep a roof over my head instead of retiring in comfort like everybody else I know in my generation is about to do (or has already done).

So yeah, definitely strive to make the impossible possible, but also make sure it pays, and pays well. I found out the hard way that genuine accomplishment isn't just doing something. It's being successful at doing that something.

[pyesetz]

I've never gotten that fortune from an actual Chinese cookie; I saw it on Reddit.

Yeah, I enjoyed my work too much and didn't demand enough pay for it.  Now I can't afford to retire and everyone thinks I'm "too old" (52, with a greymuzzle) so I can no longer get a job in the field.

I had a boss once who gave me a pamphlet of someone's advice for various kinds of computer programmers.  For the hot-shot programmer (which I was at the time), the advice was "don't do it for love — make sure you get paid".