Yeah, it's probably a personality thing in large part. I find that the sense of my creative energy being wasted on something pointless disagrees with me so much that I'd rather do almost anything else (I actually find jobs to be a great source of inspiration in that way - ideas for better things to do keep springing to mind - although not great for productivity on the job).

I do think there are different types of "work" though, and the worse programming jobs have some of the worst combinations of attributes - inherently pointless but require intense mental effort.