Something that isn't spoken about enough (in non-programming circles, that is) is the ability of coding to affect other people's lives in the most unexpected of ways. For example, a crappily designed front-end can make doing something like online shopping feel like the worst thing in the world or if you're a game developer, you could contribute to creating a title that becomes somebody's all-time favorite.
It's pretty wild to think you can instigate change just by sitting in front of a screen every day, more so than your average email job. Still, you pay for that power by having to stress out over endless code revisions and annoying project managers. At least programming memes are here to help find humor in the many frustrations. They know the pain, and they throw some entertainment into the mix for good measure. Sometimes, that is the best that can be done for a situation.