Your relation to the work would change I think. You would be less inclined to put up with bad working conditions, heavy deadline pressures, that sort of thing. Things you would normally let slide for the paycheque become dealbreakers or things you push back on.

I think this is true, but it’s also a bit frustrating in that it’s not at all obvious that programmers are building more or better stuff as a result of the “bad working environment” side of things. So can’t we just lose that?

(It probably doesn’t help that preferences are quite variable. I’m generally pretty comfortable doing tight-deadline stuff at least some of the time, especially if it’s clear why someone needs the thing fast. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of some of the current process/“practices” stuff, and can see that people who enjoy a fair amount of structure could dislike an environment I found near-ideal)