On: Do you actually like programming? Or is it just a means to an end for you?

As the years go on I find programming less interesting. Or maybe it's that I find other things more interesting.

However the tone of your post seems to imply that programming is the boring part of computer science. The only interesting stuff happening in computer science has come out of people actually programming stuff.

What do you mean by "interesting stuff"? Are you referring to novel apps or quality implementation?

Of course a novel app is more interesting if it is implemented. But the point is that implementation is necessary but not inherently interesting.