I don’t enjoy programming or do it for fun like I did when I started 40 years ago. But I do enjoy solving complex problems and making my customers happy. The co

I don’t enjoy programming or do it for fun like I did when I started 40 years ago. But I do enjoy solving complex problems and making my customers happy. The coding part is mostly incidental in the bigger picture of satisfying customers (or bosses and users). Eventually every programmer realizes that there’s very little actually new in the software world. Ideas and techniques that work get recycled and repackaged, and we can do more because of more powerful hardware and the internet. But programming today is not fundamentally different from what it was 2, 3, or 4 decades ago. At first everything is new and exciting, and small differences (like C++ to Rust, or PHP to Node) look like bigger innovations than they actually turn out to be. Most programming work is repetitive and not especially intellectually challenging after a while. That realization can lead to disappointment, boredom, cynicism. That’s when you have to find satisfaction and pride in other aspects of the career. I knew a plumber who had been in the business for 30 years. Once he was clearing a clogged drain at my house and I asked him if he ever got tired of plumbing. He said the work isn’t really interesting, but it pays well. Then he said he loves fixing things and leaving happy customers. Programming isn’t any different.