[lucasnemeth]

A good programmer produces good code. The motivation or their personal feelings is absolutely irrelevant. Your comparison does not makes sense. There's no reason on his text to assume he's not a good programmer. We can say, that at least to his eyes, he's a very good programer, and that's all we know. The rest your saying comes from personal bias and generalizations.

Lastly, the programmer can make his decisions on financial grounds instead of "difficult problems". The most difficult problems are on academia, but not everybody goes to academia because the pay is low and the job opportunities are few.

[Retra]

All you're doing is pointing out a morality conflict, which really isn't an argument. A good person is one who the solves problems that need to be solved. This person said they don't care what problems they solve, so long as they prop up their own ego. That's hardly a position that the rest of us need to consider 'good.'

You could just as well be saying that someone who programs to hurt people and commit crimes can be a good programmer. They may be skilled, but 'good' is a more general term.

[lucasnemeth]

I think it's pretty clear that the quoted person means "skilled" when he says "very good". Good not only mean "what is morally right" but also "having a high standard". He didn't said a "good person", he said a "good programmer", it usully implies a "skilled programmer", not an "morally sound programmer". The same way a "good restaurant" don't usually imply that all their food is fair trade organic ethically sourced, but that the food is prepared with high quality.