Short answer? Because many (if not most) programming jobs turn into a soul-sucking slow torture of meetings, overbearing process, second-rate solutions in the name of compromise and dealing with cluess and/or unreasonable people who often view what you do as an unfortunate cost centre.

Whereas on SO you're generally talking to a better class of programmers. I say this because those who bother to read and post on SO are generally more interested in self-development than perhaps the average Joe (Programmer). To such people learning something and teaching something to someone who is generally interested is more rewarding.

Short answer? Because many (if not most) programming jobs turn into a soul-sucking slow torture of meetings, overbearing process, second-rate solutions in the name of compromise and dealing with clueless and/or unreasonable people who often view what you do as an unfortunate cost centre.

Whereas on SO you're generally talking to a better class of programmers. I say this because those who bother to read and post on SO are generally more interested in self-development than perhaps the average Joe (Programmer). To such people learning something and teaching something to someone who is generally interested is more rewarding.