If you are a plumber, you will fix your own leaking faucet; if you are a mechanic, you will change your own oil; if you are a doctor, you will give yourself some nice prescription; if you are a lawyer, you will sue your neighbor's pants off; if you are a teacher, you will teach your children; if you are a software engineer, you will ....

From my conversations with many colleagues, it seems that for most people, software engineering is one of those professions that's useless outside of work: most engineers never use that skill at home.

Here at 1 am, for the past few hours, I've been working on one of my pet projects: a perl/tk application to help me to help my kids to learn geometry. It's slow, even slower than at work, though fun, and even useful. I have many such pet projects at home.

So, when you leave your job at the end of day, what/how do you use that skill for something else which might be pleasing to others rather than your employer or yourself (e.g, wife/husbands/kids, even in-laws)?

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