Let me to be honest, there is a big lie in the world:
Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.
If you’re reading this post and you know me, you’re probably wondering if I’ve lost my mind or something. I joined the world of computer science driven by a strong passion.
Yet, many years of technical interviews with dozens and dozens of people of all seniorities have left me with a bitter realization.
You really should try to avoid making assumptions based on how passionate the person in front of you appears to be.
You don’t want to hire passionate people.
You want to hire professional people.
Yeah, I get it. Passionate folks often have extra drive, maybe even find the best or most efficient solution (unless they get stuck in their own loop).
But let’s face it, relying on their reliability can be iffy.
But why?
Passion is, by definition, illogical.
It often leads people to act without thinking - we call them crimes of passion for a right reason.
People lead by passion are generally poorly accountable in most of the situations.
Mostly, though, the distinction here is that the professional will do the parts of the job they dislike just as they will the parts they like - the professional knows it’s a job, not a life choice or an identity. You can’t say the same for passionate ones.
Most of the time, if these individuals can’t manage themselves, they need to be fed with new challenges. Sometimes these tasks end up being created ad hoc without a real need. It’s equally true that once any resource is depleted, they’ll be the first to leave to plunder another team.
So, unless you’re developing the next rocket to Mars or you’re absolutely sure that person can feed their ego outside the team, my advice is to move on.
If you are building a team or you’re a passionate developer take a look at the link below and read it carefully.
Links
- Don’t Let Passion Lead to Burnout on Your Team - Harvard Business Review