[pmiller2]

Or, they just don't find the work terribly exciting. There's a lot of unexciting work to be done in software, and somebody has to do it.

[rtpg]

There's definitely an industry bias towards "programmers as artists". If you don't love your work with a passion you're seen as less good.

It's an alright proxy for other things, but there's a ton of good developers that leave their ego at the door, and their work at work.