As a software engineer, your craft is about the breadth of software engineering, and embracing professional pride and dedication in doing that well. Well impli

As a software engineer, your craft is about the breadth of software engineering, and embracing professional pride and dedication in doing that well. Well implies towards the goals of the organization. Programming is only one piece, and not the most important. And the nature of the programming you do changes because of the software engineering concerns. (Examples: on a given project, a goal might be that the code be maintainable long-term, or maintainable by others, or not disrupt an interface with another team, or delivered in a certain short timeframe, or work the first time and every time.) Where it gets much more complicated is that a lot of companies are highly inefficient or dysfunctional internally, and don't really permit doing software engineering well. So, you might find yourself not only not allowed to do programming like you love, but also not able to practice or even recognize the craft of software engineering. If you love programming, find a job that will let you do some of what you love, or save your love for your own time. If it's your own time, have especial fun with it, and don't turn it into a job without pay (unless you can also turn it into a paying job, like a startup).