Maybe they're an orphan. Maybe they don't have a significant other. Maybe they don't care about anything in life other than the success of their project.
Maybe the non-501 developers are genuinely self-sacrificing, in every sense of that word, while the 501s live off their labors. For the 501 is very happy to use Google to search for his Disneyland trip, to use his iPhone to find driving directions, to use Facebook to post the photos.
Say what you will, those companies were not built by 501 engineers, though 501s might well be going there now that the pioneers have built multibillion dollar companies.
There are 501 people and non-501 people in every profession.
The issue is something like this. One workaholic nerd works his life out to achieve something very extraordinary. Then he become famous and rich. And then people begin to dissect his life. During the process people figure out, that we worked crazy hours to achieve what he achieved.
When a theory is made out of this process your logical inference is working very hard is a prerequisite for success.
You start with this assumption then you automatically start classifying 501 workers as somebody who can't do anything big in life. Go a step further, people start classifying 501 people as lazy or inefficient.
I did not say that at all. I challenged the idea that a person who is not passionate about their job is not working on something they are passionate about, by pointing out that you can have a job that you're not passionate about but still be passionate about working on your family—on raising your children well, on having a happy life with your spouse, on maintaining a strong relationship with your parents and siblings and nephews and nieces, etc. There are always some things we have to do in life that we're not necessarily passionate about.
Their families.