Re: General advice beyond Org

[Bob Newell]

It's tempting to fall back on the clichéed idea that one goes from
idealism to cynicism as one ages. But one does acquire some practical
knowledge, and learning when to compromise and when not to compromise
is one example.

As I said far above in this thread and a few others have echoed, we
need to pick our battles. Some battles aren't worth it, while others
are mandatory. And that line varies as much by individual as it does
by battle domain.

I mentioned that I worked in one environment that was completely
locked down with absolutely zero deviation permitted. That made work
very much more difficult, especially as it was just about pure
Microsoft. But the job was good; it was worth doing, it paid well
enough, it was challenging, and it wasn't something I would quit just
so I could go somewhere else that embraced FOSS. That was more of a
business decision than a moral one; I'm not RMS and while FOSS is
important to me, it's not a hill to die on. Your own mileage may vary,
and that's fine.

If, on the other hand, the job required me to go out and kill all
people of a certain race or religion, it would be an entirely
different matter and no amount of pay or benefits would get me to do
that. It's a deliberately ridiculous example made to illustrate the
point that the "line" lies somewhere in-between. For most people it
will be somewhere above pure idealism and somewhere below stark
cynicism.

Real life is filled with compromises; indeed, society wouldn't get on
without some of them. So we have to make choices, and we need to make
them with our eyes open.

Wow, we are SO off topic!