Anyone who does not need money may cast the first stone. People with six figures in the bank do not get to play.

That capitalism is the rule of the world and money a necessity for survival, we all know.

Living in this system puts us in an endless loop of worry about it: our livelihood, housing, the things we want, debts, travel. The list does not end.

Because we depend on this system, every professional, freelancer and business owner is trying to grow, improve and find a better position in the market, which means earning more, one way or another. Each with their own motivation.

And in a world where practically every business, product, service and company depends on technology to work, those of us who build that technology have an almost singular privilege: we can afford to choose among thousands of options for how to earn a living, whether in industry, retail, government or anywhere else.

In that sea of possibilities, what should you do to earn well? Which area? How do you use the skills you already have? How far can you go? Those are important questions, capitalism being what it is.

But as developers we have something particular to our profession: passion is what keeps you going. I have met developers who learned to program, were good at it and made money, and who spent every day complaining that they did not enjoy it.

In my experience those cases are few, but they are sad ones. The money comes, sooner or later it always comes. But when it comes after you have invested genuine enjoyment in what you did, that makes all the difference. And I would rather it come that way, derived from something I was glad to have made. Is that sappy? It is. But it is true.

The reality of studying tech

I took a technical course in software development eight years ago. Our class started with 36 people, thrilled, all ages, from 17 (me) to 38. Everyone excited about a field that had been on the rise thanks to the internet, everyone betting on a world that had already gone online and was going to grow further. It did grow. But of those 36, only 12 made it to the end. More than half dropped out along the way.

"This is not for me," some of them realised.

Today only five work in the field.

Our area is not easy. Every week there is a new library, a framework, a service, a methodology, a language. Technologies come and go constantly, companies keep evolving, and they need every kind of professional.

There is no magic formula for making money. There is no recipe for making money as a programmer. But in a field the world revolves around, money is an inevitable consequence.

You need passion. Love your code. Do it with pleasure. Because then everything you make will be well made, and someone will pay for what is well made, and pay well.

Thank you for reading this far.

This is the first time I have written anything like this. What did you think?