Similar story in manufacturing automation, with a lot of automotive especially.

It's fun to drive around and see F150 doors and Subaru seats and Toyota mirrors and BMW center consoles and on and on that I assembled.

Or rather, that machines running code I wrote assembled a small part of. It's definitely a different feeling of satisfaction when a machine I was a critical part of for a few weeks years ago churns out value while I sleep versus something I made with my hands and hand tools which would take an identical amount of time to repeat.