Finally my turn to shine! I learned how to play guitar for like a decade before I got into …

Finally my turn to shine! I learned how to play guitar for like a decade before I got into programming. I also write a lot and have some small novels I have finished. I feel your analogy is right but it can extend to anything. Plumbing is a job, programing is a job and yes its basically the same process if you see at as a job. But what OP means is the skill/ability of programming rather than the job of it. Think of a professional musician that plays cruise ships, their job is also like plumbing in the way you describe, which would mean its also just like programming in terms of a job. Yet the skill/art to me has a lot to do with the art of music or the art of writing. All of them can be channels for creativity while forcing you to do very hard work on the mechanics. I cannot say the same about the art of plumbing where you do have the mechanics and need to work on it but it doesn't require cerativity or allow you to channel it. I am currently working on a blog trying to explain concurrency and parallelism using the song "Free Bird".