[amichail]

If you try to be creative, you'll end up with nothing but emperor-has-no-clothes modern art (which won't get you very far in computing). But if you do quality work, you may well get creativity thrown in as a bonus.

People try to be creative all the time in startups and games. And it can be quite profitable too.

As for computing in academia, it's not set in stone. CS can be expanded or a new field created to reward creativity.