Better programmers than me can write in essays about walking around with a coffee mug and call it programming. And it's perfectly accepted at a place that knows the business. Or see what Gregory House (TV show "House M.D.") does when he is thinking.

But what about the other places where you are the only programmer?

If you don't stare at boring stuff on the monitor for 8 hours straight, co-workers suspect you being a slacker. Yes, not the managers who see the output. Only the co-workers who see the process and can't relate to this kind of work.

Yesterday I had to explain to a trainee of some other profession that software development is like flying. The explanation from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I don't think she bought it.