Ah perhaps. Then I think we had different understandings of my "why are you in this field?" question. I would say that my day job is to "deliver shareholder value"[0] but I'd never say that is why I am in this field, and it sounds like it isn't why you're in this field either since I doubt you were thinking about shareholders when you were programming as a kid.

[0] Actually, I'd say it is "to make my immediate manager's job easier", but if you follow that up the org chart eventually it ends up with shareholders and their money.

well sure i may have oversimplified it. the shareholder is usually me :)