>> I think the reason that many smart people don't stick with programming is because a fundamental part of the job is struggling with intellectually trivial inc

>> I think the reason that many smart people don't stick with programming is because a fundamental part of the job is struggling with intellectually trivial incantations specific to some configuration/OS/Language/Tooling. Along with this, I believe there is a certain amount of curiosity required to continue pursuing programming after a certain point. At first it might be fun, teaching a computer to obey commands, but once a tough enough obstacle is met, does that person want to find the answer and do they take satisfaction once that obstacle is overcome? If the satisfaction doesn't surpass the stress it took to find the solution (for most problems, not all), it seems unlikely that the programmer would like to continue when the next problem appears (which is inevitable).