"Larry L" wrote in message ...

I was lucky enough that it did apply to my job for many years. But, as I
think you know, turning a "hobby" into a job eventually ruins the hobby.

I think there's LOTS more criteria that could apply to "liking your
job" than "I'd do it without pay". If I wasn't getting paid to do
what I do, I'd have to do something else for pay. Then I wouldn't
be able to do what I'm doing. So no, I wouldn't be doing it without
being paid. There are _parts_ of it that I might be doing as a hobby
if my real job was something completely different, but there's
certainly other parts I could live without :-)

In DT's scenario, part of the enjoyment probably comes from seeing
the fruits of the labor actually used. Sitting at home in the evening
evaluating the performance of chips just for fun doesn't produce
_usable_ results. To do something only to throw it all away wouldn't
be as enjoyable. Many of us enjoy tying flies but I doubt any of us
would do it if the flies weren't useful, or if we were just tossing
them in the trash can after we were done.

I think I'm in the same category as DT. I enjoy my work, and I don't
really think about retirement, or wish for it. If I can retire from
this job someday, that's fine and I think I'd go on to find something
else I could do that might (hopefully) benefit society, but I'm in no
hurry (It's a good thing since I've only been making "real" money for
8.5yrs of my 19-year career (depending on how you count)).

I think it's much more important to know who you are at all points
in your life rather than wait for retirement to find out. These sad
stories, to me, are indicative of the cost of waiting...

Jon.