Maybe another way of putting it would be "the thrill is gone".
Most us started out with a lot of enthusiasm for programming, but for some it slowly eroded along the way or the novelty wore off.
To me, it's a mystery why some people can maintain their passion in the long run, for some it's on and off while for others it completely dies at some point.
I also find it funny that Australians felt the need to turn the "can't be bothered" expression into something slightly stronger, if the author is right about this.
I dunno, I’ve never been head-over-heels passionate about writing code, though I’ve been at it for 15 years now and I still get quite a kick out of it in the right circumstances. I tend to gravitate towards bug fixing, integrating work others have done or improving it slightly, testing, deployment/monitoring automation, etc.
I’ve also 100% had lulls where I just hate it and cannot be bothered to do my job or do it well, I think it ebbs and flows with what you’re being asked or required to do.
I think I'm the other way around. I love coding new stuff, but sometimes I dread fixing bugs, especially if I don't have an immediate hunch about the issue and end up investigating for hours or days for a fix.
But I feel fortunate that I still enjoy programming for the most part (though not as much as 20 years ago) and haven't had too many situations where I had to force myself to do something that I would rather not.
Most us started out with a lot of enthusiasm for programming, but for some it slowly eroded along the way or the novelty wore off. To me, it's a mystery why some people can maintain their passion in the long run, for some it's on and off while for others it completely dies at some point.
I also find it funny that Australians felt the need to turn the "can't be bothered" expression into something slightly stronger, if the author is right about this.