One advantage of being an artistic weirdo who makes completely commercially non-viable music is that I have a •lot• of practice forging that sense of purpose and meaning for myself when the world is aggressively not handing it to me.

Software development has been coasting on a wave of profitability / employability for several decades, and as a discipline perhaps has an underdeveloped sense of intrinsic purpose. Now is a good time to for us to redevelop that as a community, regardless of future job market prospects.

Tips I can give you from my experience as a musicial weirdo if you’re looking to redevelop a sense of intrinsic purpose and meaning:

Beware of leaning on extrinsic validation (winning a contest, getting a grant, getting a job) for your psychological well-being. Those things may be important for practical purposes, but psychologically they are all empty calories.

Three •good• sources of purpose and meaning in your work that can sustain you:

- your own sense of satisfaction in your work
- sharing work via meaningful, sustained human connections
- the sheer joy of making and doing

A particular dissonance in my musical life is the aggressive non-interest of the world in my music in competitive circles (commerce, grants, whatever) and the warm, passionate enthusiasm it receives when I share it with people in person.

What’s worked for me: creating contexts of joy and mutual support where I can share with people — not just share generically in general, but sharing with specific actual people where there is a human relationship underlying the sharing — and then sharing.

These contexts by and large don’t just exist on their own; we have to •make• them. It’s not a thing you can just decide to do and then it’s there. It’s damned hard.

Software folks should pay more attention to the musicians and artists who are creating artistic spaces: neighborhood festivals, house concerts (whether “salon” or punk band in the basement), converted warehouses, street art, that kind of thing. Watch how artists on the margins don’t just •look for• space, but •create• it — and how it’s rooted in community. That’s a model to follow.