it saddens me that there are so many artist-SWEs like me, because the golden handcuffs can kill your dreams.

Sometimes dreams are just fantasies.

I love programming (and other puzzle-solving). I’d love it slightly more if I could just do it in whatever field or direction stuck my fancy, but I’ve made peace with the idea that we get paid that golden handcuff compensation in exchange for someone else choosing the puzzles we work on to be ones valuable and relevant to them.