My younger self was loathe to programming. It was just a job for me, clock in clock out as you say. I was always in this zone of product managers and managers are superior as they were always in some meetings and it gave me the impression that important work gets done in meetings. I hated being a lowly engineer right from the start.

Only when I got into those meeting rooms, did I have a rude awakening. I realized the value of shipping software. I rolled up my sleeves and started getting back into building software, reluctantly initially but then I fell in love with the craft eventually.

Today if I find anyone who is getting disillusioned as I was, I try to educate them and help them find the joy in shipping software. Am not sure if it has really helped anyone, but I think it's the right thing to do.