Someone in an office writes a check and an AI coding assistant writes code and opens a PR. Just for the money. No love of technology on its own. No motivation on its own to contribute. No natural curiosity about the problem. Just the borrowed motivations of whomever is paying. Souless code, sure. Mediocre code, likely. Elegant code, doubtful. Groundbreaking code? Not likely. But code written nevertheless. And probably closing an issue or request.
Someone in an office writes a check and a mercenary developer or freelancer (or if a paycheck, an employee) writes code and opens a PR. Let’s say just for the money. No love of technology on their own…
… repeat all said above…
Is one better or worse than the other?
And if you love technology, if you believe in the endeavor, is your code better than these? If so, is it simply because you try harder? Do that extra polish? Give just a little more?
It matters to some. Not to others. Do you code because it matters to you? Or because it pays well. Or both?

theacademe

A philosophical reflection on developer motivation and code quality. Compares AI-generated code, mercenary developers, and passionate technologists, questioning whether intrinsic love for technology produces better code than purely financial motivation. Poses open-ended questions about what drives developers and whether passion translates to superior outcomes.

Can You Buy the Soul of a Developer?

There was never any hope for the hopeless romantics.

I code for food, is that soulful or soulless?

Generally speaking devs are weak and we easily sell our soul. Its like construction worker who obey an order to build bridge from straw.

Just like everything else, if you’re good at what you do, you command a premium for your time. It’s not really about selling your soul… all we have as developers is our time, we trade our time with our kids, our family, our lives for money, so there is a dollar value for that trade-off