That doesn't mean a hiring manager wants to hear that, which is at least one of the points of the article. I do believe he refers to that idea, at least indirectly.
Also note, just because one loves programming does not mean one enjoys repetitively writing the same code, over and over again. Note to mention the fact that duplicating code within a project (instead of creating "reusable pieces of code") creates design problems and maintainability issues.
I believe most good engineers ejoy employing an elegant solution, and focusing on the problem to be solved. They don;t enjoy solving the same old problem ("Gotta write another data access layer now, before I can build the fun part of the app . . ." as an example) over and over again by writing what amounts to boilerplate code.
My experience is that when the problem is complex, the planned solution might still work, but there are often aspects I didn't think about that requires adapting the solution. So it's not just a matter of typing it up.
I think programming to a large extent is a learning experience, and you adapt the solution as you learn more trying to solve the problem. For me at least it is a lot more iterative than simply typing the solution.
Author here. I probably could have written 'I hate solving problems using technology' instead of 'I hate programming'. The point, as you noted, was that the challenge of solving problems with code never gets old. Rewriting repetitive code or just the simple task of typing certainly are not what great engineers enjoy.
Also note, just because one loves programming does not mean one enjoys repetitively writing the same code, over and over again. Note to mention the fact that duplicating code within a project (instead of creating "reusable pieces of code") creates design problems and maintainability issues.
I believe most good engineers ejoy employing an elegant solution, and focusing on the problem to be solved. They don;t enjoy solving the same old problem ("Gotta write another data access layer now, before I can build the fun part of the app . . ." as an example) over and over again by writing what amounts to boilerplate code.