Intrinsic vs Extrinsic
What kind of programmer are you, really?
We should write good code. Follow best practices. Do things well.
Hard to argue against that, right? Then why is there so much bad code in the world? Is it just too hard? Sometimes. But sometimes there’s something else: motivations.
Many engineers (and other folks) will say something like the above but the real motivation they have is something else: getting promoted, doing just enough to get paid, getting along with the team, whatever. Those are reasonable extrinsic (external) motivations, at some level. But they don’t take you very far: you do what you need to but you don’t really have much motivation to get better, to really understand how things work, to be creative.
The really good programmers (and makers, and artists) I know do what they do for more intrinsic reasons: because it’s right, because they understand the overall system is better if they do, because they can’t stand to have lower standards, etc. This is much more likely to lead to the growth mindset of lifelong learning - and all of this feeds back on itself. If you deeply, intrinsically care about something, you will be more present, more thoughtful, learn and innovate more, and continue to build more and better.
It’s not free - sometimes folks with strong intrinsic motivations get lost in “perfect architecture” or rabbit holes that don’t really matter. It kind of comes with the territory, and sometimes it produces really valuable things, but often it produces overly complicated code, or lethally slow execution, or a difficult team member who can’t really work with others.
So while it’s ultimately more powerful and useful to have intrinsic motivations, it has to be tempered a bit with realism and some compromise in the right places - which is hard! Most people can’t do that balancing act well - the ones that can are really really successful, almost universally. The rest of us - we do ok, but less so.
The first step is to be aware of your motivations and consider them in light of the person you want to be. There isn’t a right choice here, but if you aren’t aware that there even is a choice, then you can’t make one.
Who do you want to be when you grow up?