[coldtea]

>I feel that the real job is to be a "product developer", and it always has been. (...) Whether I'm a "glorified code monkey" or a "glorified prompt jockey", I'm still just trying to create a product as quickly as I can and add value to the process along the way

I dunno, I didn't get into IT to be a "product developer" or to "solve business problems" in the abstract sense.

I got to it because I liked coding, computers, algorithms, solving problems with code, and all the rest.

If I had such little regard for coding and so much regard for solving business problems and developing products, I'd just start out to be a manager :)