Comment by TuringNYC

In many ways, it is actually a very selfish decision on my part as an Engineer -- I'm doing it because i'm thrilled with my job, the product I work on (and launched) and cant stop thinking about some of the Engineering problems I encounter -- because they are so fascinating.

My current employer is shrewd in that they have aligned their interests to mine -- they have moved away most of the BS typical of engineering jobs. They have other people do the parts I don't enjoy doing, and they have given me wide latitude in Product and Product Engineering decisions. They have also given me wide latitude on task selection -- which tasks I take and which get assigned to others on my team (or others on other teams.) This isn't a constant state, it happens on several sprints a year.

On a side note, yes, I exert lots of creative energy in other domains. I'm on the board of a non-profit mentoring org, I'm an advisor to a nature conservancy organization, and I spend a huge amount of time with my family and children.

When I was single, I was part of a community food cooperative and several educational mentoring orgs. Now, the lions share of free time goes to children.

Side note -- if/when my employer turns into Initech and I'm filling out TPS Reports, you can be sure I'll be clocking out at 5pm.