[madmanslitany]

I think this appeals to the identity crisis that programmers can sometimes have; are we really engineers? We're the most removed from the physical of all engineers with the exception of the ORIE/FE people, and nobody's quite sure what they are either. You generally do believe the argument that being an engineer is more about the thought process than having to do work on physical structures, but there's always that nagging bit of insecurity, the itch you can't scratch. Working with your hands on electronics alleviates that nagging fear.

That's my theory, at least. The most I ever bother to do though is assemble my own computer from Newegg parts.