Professions: Writing Shareware, Drawback Of

Ah, The Respect And Adulation!

by Jeff Vogel (jvogel@math.rutgers.edu)
written 24 Jul 1995

This article is classified "Real"


For the last five months now, I've been working on shareware full-time.
Considering the amount of money that's coming in, I'm going to be working
on it for some time to come.

The reason I bring it up is that whenever I tell people what I do, I
immediately get this look.  The sort of look I'd get if I said I wiped
windshields on the corner for a living.  Or made beadwork.  Or was an 
actor, not working at the moment, but I have an audition next week.  Or
coded in COBOL.  Or was unemployed.

This puts me in the position where I have to either say I make a lot of 
money at it, which is extremely gauche, at best, or let it slide and have
the person think I'm some no-life generation X slacker flakeazoid, and I
don't want that. 

I'm not sure I should even care.  I mean, how important is it that people
respect what you do for a living? 

Also, I should mention that nobody will ever want to fuck you because you
write shareware.

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