Developer As A Service is killing you...

Back in the old school days (3 years ago), I was -and I am- a student which loved to code everyday, every hour, every time. And seriously, I did not pass a single day without coding something, or reading a developer book.

I thought I'll love to do that all my life, all was well and I lived happy.

Then one day came internships... the projects was cool and people too, but something was wrong... It was not as fun as before ?

Then one day came clients... most of the time the projects are cool, the cash is flowing, but I really hate coding now, and try to stop thinking about it at home.
3 years ago, I did not understand how such developers could exist.

The truth is that I'm not the only one in this case. And every developer with clients/boss probably feels the same.

Are you doomed to hate what you do ? I'm truly convince that developer is the best job in the world, why do we hate it ?

It took me a long time to realize that the fun in development is to build your own castle, not the one of a king. Developer is boring and stressful without the creative part. It is the creative part which made you code at 3am when you were in college. It is the creative part which make me write articles on Code Project or Genuilder.

Your client or boss is stealing you the creative part.

This is what I call Developer As A Service and it is already killing you.
Developer As A Service is when you are getting requirements from someone else and it is your job to implement it. It can be a sales person, your manager, your boss, your client.

The only solution to get out of this mess is to take back the creative part. But what does it mean ?

It means you have to do your job with no garantee to be paid.
It means that the "client" give suggestion, not order.

I'm conscious some people can't afford to take this risk... But what do you choose, if you had the choice between earning 2000$ and creating a Framework/Software/Site used by thousands of people for free ?
Well, at the start I would take the 2000$ but now I'm sure that what will give me the more on the long term is to create your own stuff for free and give it to people who needs it.

Get back your creativity and your love for programming.
Make no compromise for your art. Because if you do that is not art anymore.