May 31, 2010 at 7:46 pm
I think the point is that a hobby is usually an escape from the other things in life that aren't as much fun.
June 1, 2010 at 1:52 am
CirquedeSQLeil (5/27/2010)
I would most certainly do it for at least a year or two. My hobby is running. I find myself doing math or SQL while running - it is fun. Of course, if I ran for a living I would have to do something with math or sql as a hobby.
I love running too. I find there's a correlation between distance run and complexity of maths I can perform. I've spent many a road race knowing exactly what pace to run at when the race starts, but by mile 10 I seem incapable of working out what my pace should be for the remaining few miles!
June 1, 2010 at 3:51 am
My passion is Radio controlled airplanes have a website at http://www.rckeith.co.uk with some of my planes some video's as well.
I'm also into moutnain biking which at my age (54) I should know better but I just love being out on my bike when I not flying rc planes.
keith
June 1, 2010 at 10:33 am
I have found that doing your hobby as your living turns the hobby into drudgery.
June 1, 2010 at 10:36 am
I don't think that doing your hobby as a job is necessarily bad. But it is different than doing it casually or for fun and you really need to think about all the extra stuff that comes with it being a job, like the need to work on it when you might not feel like it, the overload, and potential other business stuff if you did it as a self employed person.
Some people might love their jobs as their hobbies, some might not.
June 1, 2010 at 2:22 pm
I echo the sentiments of quite a few of you, I can't imagine having a "passion" for databases or programming. I started in IT through happenstance and it has provided me a good income all these years. I have a knack for learning new languages and think quite logically and that has served me well throughout all the changes in the IT business. Have I enjoyed my job? Sometimes, especially when I help the end users and make their jobs easier. Do I have a passion? No way.
I am also a musician, actor, triathlete and personal fitness instructor. If I could do any or all of those as my full time gig WITH the same benefits and pay, I would never set foot in an IT shop again. Yes, I would use my skills to create killer websites and forums 😀 with tuned databases and reports but I absolutely wouldn't spend a majority of my time with them. I may actually farm that piece out so I can spend more time with PEOPLE, and that's what I am passionate about.
I am glad I am in SQL now and have found this forum. I have been soul searching for quite a while now and it's nice to know I'm not the only frustrated musician/actor/triathlete/runner out there!
June 1, 2010 at 4:12 pm
TIFEMB (6/1/2010)
...Sometimes, especially when I help the end users and make their jobs easier. Do I have a passion? No way...I am glad I am in SQL now and have found this forum. I have been soul searching for quite a while now and it's nice to know I'm not the only frustrated musician/actor/triathlete/runner out there!
I think that many of us have a passion for helping users and making their life easier (I know that is one of the things that drives me 😀 ). That being said, though, I also know that I have a passion, if you will, or a calling that makes me analyze and want to improve the processes of activities . . . usually with a database involved in it.
One of my "hobbies" is mentoring and assisting others who are struggling with databases (whether designing, tuning, or developing against them). However, I have been soul-searching as well . . . mostly because I think I have just been doing this far too long.
Earlier comments about doing your hobby for profit turns your hobby into a job are correct. Far too many, when they get the chance to do so, start trying to make their hobby into something that will support them and then come face to face with the stark reality that the "doing what you love" part of the business is the smaller part and you have to do a lot of drudgery (in the form of accounting, selling, inventory, etc.) just to be able to "do what you love."
Case in point is a friend who loved to decorate cakes for events. She got laid off and decided to go into the business of decorating cakes for people. That was when she learned that a) she had been losing money on her previous cakes (which she could no longer afford to do), b) she couldn't really pass the health department inspections if she worked from home, c), even if she could, her home ovens were too small, and d), between trying to get business and handling the business she did get, she was working at least twice as many hours for less than half her previous pay. A few years after she got a job like her old job, she now, once again, likes to make cakes for people for special occassions . . . but she has no desire to get back into that business. 😉
Ralph D. Wilson II
Development DBA
"Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first 4 sharpening the ax."
A. Lincoln
June 2, 2010 at 8:58 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpKuYbJQK4
The phrase "Don't give up your day job" springs to mind....
June 2, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I did convert my hobby of baking into a part-time business and struggled with sleeplessness for three years before giving it up. I'm now back to the IT full-time and appreciate both it and the baking much more. The baking (bread, cakes, pies, etc) is now truly a hobby again and I love it. I'm enjoying my regular job too as I'm not tired all the time. The bonus is that I built a wood-fired pizza/bread oven and got all the equipment for the business, which I now have for my hobby. Also, many of my former customers still get fresh bread, just not as often but at no charge, so they are happy too.
From this experience, I agree with many of the above posts that a hobby can become a chore when you try to make a living from it.
June 4, 2010 at 2:03 am
I do DBA at work and programming at work and at home as a hobby as a small sideline for other peoples projects.
The point to having Database and Programming as a Hobby as well as the "job" is that it has taught me the true price of "ME" time. It really teaches you the actual value of time. I mean I do not push my outside Database interests, I pick and choose what I do for whome and when I do it.
In my actual day to day job those choices are not available to me I do what's needs to be done. If I turned my hobby into my job then I would loose what makes it a hobby.
The only other hobby (apart from the family) is Single Malt Whisky and would I like to do that everyday (Hell yes) however one would think that would be totally impossible to maintain over a long period of time and who would pay to see a drunk?
June 4, 2010 at 7:39 am
My reading and knowledge of SQL Server extends beyond the scope of what I actually do day to day on the job, and I enjoy maintaining little side projects outside work. Occasionally, I'll discover something interesting and go on a programming binge that starts Friday afternoon and extends late into Saturday morning. It's amazing how immersive and productive programming can be when you're just exploring on your own for fun. I imagine that's how Leonardo DaVinci and Charles Babbage came up with some of their best stuff.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
June 4, 2010 at 9:21 am
douglas.allison-1136597 (6/4/2010)
The only other hobby (apart from the family) is Single Malt Whisky and would I like to do that everyday (Hell yes) however one would think that would be totally impossible to maintain over a long period of time and who would pay to see a drunk?
Dean Martin made a good living at it. 😉
Ralph D. Wilson II
Development DBA
"Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first 4 sharpening the ax."
A. Lincoln
June 4, 2010 at 9:48 am
Just because you enjoy something doesn’t mean you should do it for a living. Work has a way of making things not fun.
For many years, photography was my hobby. I got a job where I spent all day every day developing and printing film. After a year of that I was so tired of film and photography that I didn’t pick up a camera again for several years, and have never really returned to the level of interest that I had before.
If you enjoy long relaxing walks, don't become a postman.
June 8, 2010 at 6:11 am
Lotsa interesting notes here 🙂 My favorite hobby is motorbike or car racing; and yeah I would love to take that for a job. But I think you gotta be competitive at your hobby to make a living out of it. I haven't dived deep in professional racing, so don't know how good I am. 🙁 I think I will have to let the SPs race instead.
BTW, I'm a huge Rossi and Raikkonen fan.
- arjun
https://sqlroadie.com/
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