[Arainach]

Plenty of value comes from things the customer doesn't care about.

Customers want features as fast and as cheap as possible. I derive joy from solid test suites that avoid me getting paged while on call and team processes that don't allow config changes on Friday so pages don't happen on the weekend.

Very few craftspeople derive their joy from the customer experience. An electrician isn't happy because their work allows me to watch TV. A carpenter isn't happy because a new set of stairs lets me get to the basement faster. They're happy because of their perception of the quality of their work. This goes away when the visible or fun parts are no longer "their work"

[suttontom]

I wouldn't agree with that. The issue with software is that the people you make things for are usually anonymous and you'll never meet them, but if you've ever built software that helped someone and you witnessed it, it feels really good.

[Arainach]

Meeting your customers feels good. It's still not why I do it. I've written components that were used by billions of people and generally loved (pieces of the Windows 7 taskbar) and talked to people about that work. I've worked in the education space and talked directly to the staff at schools who use my product to hear their use cases, thoughts, and feedback. It's fun, humbling, and rewarding. It's not what motivates me day to day.