Other than getting a paycheck -- which is damned important — what am I after when I code? What are the goals?

I'd say they include at least the following:

• Produce working code and working, robust systems,


• Make the "customers" and "stakeholders" happy,


• Achieve self-esteem, professional recognition, and financial reward.

(As for the self-esteem part, a ridiculous portion of my sense of self-worth is tied up in how well I do my job.)

In the coding game, I favor the "hands-on" approach to system architects: you've got a lot more credibility if you can write the code that makes things happen.  I think a lot of programmers feel this way.

But even though you may need to spend hours doing intensive, head-down programming, in order to achieve success it's imperative that you poke your head up and look around on a regular basis, mainly to make sure that the problem you are working on is the one that needs solving.