""" Q: What do you hate about coding? A: "Software engineering". Most real-world programming doesn't involve any new algorithm, doesn't require any cleverness;

""" Q: What do you hate about coding? A: "Software engineering". Most real-world programming doesn't involve any new algorithm, doesn't require any cleverness; it merely involves implementing some known solution and making sure it's robustly commented and tested. It requires self-discipline simply because it's so boring! """ [1] SnapDragon, who's current rating is 3005 on Topcoder, and was ranked 18 on that site said that, who by the way is employed at Google (at least he was when he gave that interview). I think that pretty much sums it up. In addition, there is an aspect of software engineering that is much like playing with soap bubbles. All software eventually becomes outdated and unusable. If you're very lucky, some of the code you wrote will be used in future versions and maybe last for a decade or two before even that is completely discarded and forgotten. So it is completely unclear that anyone would want to write production code for the entertainment value. And secondly, most real world programming is in fact pretty boring, and it is likely that solving puzzles is far more entertaining. To draw an analogy, some smart people don't do well in school because you are graded on things like penmanship and mentioning the units and things like that. I don't think the scenario here is vastly different. [1] http://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=features&d2=020708 http://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=features&d...