What's the point?

Occasionally, especially lately since I've retired, some people say something like this: "It's great that you still go to work every day, but I don't see the point."

The point is really simple. I'm a software developer. I decided that's what I wanted to do when I was in my late teens. I never ask myself why I do it. When it clicked for me at that young age, it was like it probably is for a person who plays soccer professionally, or who plays in a rock band.

We don't question the point of them doing what they do, so why would people question what I still do ?

I probably know the answer. They see software development and programming as a job. If you don't have to work at it, why do you still do it?

I never felt that software was a job. For me, strange as it may seem, it was a challenge. I had great stuff to do. And I'm not finished. So that's the point.

I've been doing it for years. To me, it's gratifying to have people use my software and for me to hear what they want and the problems they encounter so I can improve things. That's an awareness of data, and it informs what I do. These are puzzles that I love. To me software is like a performing art, it's never finished, always evolving. I do it even if I'm the only one using the software. But it's much much better if there are others, the more, the better.

"I think of software engineering as one of the few skills where you can create something new and exciting *every* day. There is almost no other creative skill that allows you to do that. And it makes many software builders true artists."
-Werner Vogels, Amazon Web Services.