The difference between your job and your hobby

Raymond Chen

There was an internal discussion about what Microsoft employees should be doing that do not directly relate to their job responsibilities, such as what text editor programmers should be using to write and edit code. Should anybody who uses a programming editor other than Visual Studio be branded a traitor? How about somebody who prefers a smartphone made by a certain Cupertino company? (And for some reason, this discussion took place on the Microsoft bloggers mailing list, because many people consider it a mailing list whose members are bloggers, as opposed to a mailing list for discussing blogging. I happen to adhere to the second definition.)

These sorts of discussions generate far more heat than light, and I felt compelled to chime in:

If it doesn’t result in a bigger number in my bank account, then it’s a hobby. It’s noble that many people have Microsoft-focused hobbies. My hobbies are knitting and modern Germanic languages.

Raymond Chen

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