I don&#x27;t know if I should interpret this common sentiment as programmers being humble about their jobs and lives, or being braggy about it.<p>What is the huge difference between programming and most other white-collar jobs, really? Is programming so incredibly liberating and personally fulfilling compared to them? If so, why? It&#x27;s not that I can&#x27;t believe that it is true. I&#x27;m just curious why it is such a massive difference, apparently.<p>On the other hand, even for people who <i>looove coding</i>, there is no shortage of those of them who complain that they don&#x27;t like their coding <i>job</i>. A programming competition is different to coding your own project by yourself, is different from coding whatever greenfield project for a job, is different from being stuck with a monolithic codebase as a maintenance programmer.