Why can't someone just be a professional who generates value?

Not that it can't be important; it can, but the downside is that passion often evaporates when things get difficult. So I'd rather hire someone who is driven by determination and discipline, and uses passion as a nice boost when they can.

It's frustrating to work with someone who gets sulky when we have to slog through the non-fun development tasks that are part of nearly every project. Yes, those parts are no fun, but the faster we buckle down and power through them, the better off we are.

Interestingly, I've found that the best developers I've worked with were the stone cold professionals who just powered through everything, whether it was enjoyable or excruciating. They weren't a bunch of grumpy old farts, either. They were some of the most friendly, jovial people I've had the pleasure of working with over the years.

I've seen employers describe their projects/startups and then they just wait for a reaction to gauge if it's something I would consider "fun", they seem surprised when I say I'm game for pretty much anything that solves someone's problem/has active users.

I even love taking care of the un-sexy tasks that nobody else really likes/there's a fight for, especially documentation -- I've written so many internal wiki pages I'm actually kinda sorry they're all locked up behind a login screen.

Any other task that sparks the brain, for whatever reason, is just a nice bonus.

Personally, I wouldn't ask the "why should I hire you" question, because it's a dumb question IMHO, but if I did and someone answered "Because I will make you more money than you'll pay me" and left it at that, I'd have some misgivings about that answer. It's tough for me articulate exactly why, but I just can't say I'd be thrilled with that answer. Someone who optimizes themselves for "make the company more money than I'm paid" doesn't really say much about what it's like to work with them. The statement doesn't do a good job of "selling yourself", IMHO.

Have you not accepted Babel into your heart?

  To transpile or not to transpile, that is the question:
  Whether 'tis nobler in the open-plan office to suffer
  The slings and arrows of EcmaScript 5
  Or to take Arms against a Sea of callbacks,
  And by asyncing, end them

Because fit. Because duty has limits, but passion can be exploited. In the words of Leonard Cohen: "He taught that the duty of lovers / is to tarnish the golden rule."

Wow, no, that's not even remotely true. My years of experience and track record of delivering completed products is my most valuable asset.

Enthusiasm doesn't get the job done. Enthusiasm and passion are fleeting.

Honestly, I cannot express how horrified I am by your reply.

You have had your entire interview to demonstrate your competence. At this stage of the interview, if you have not yet demonstrated competence, no answer to this question is going to get you hired.

A good answer to a bullshit question just demonstrates your skill at bullshitting. If that's what the company is looking for, hopefully you can find employment elsewhere.

My advice, when you get asked a stupid interview question, tell them why you think it's a stupid question. You'll either blow the interview, or find a place that values your opinion.

Second piece of advice, don't follow the advice of random idiots on the internet.

"Kryptonite."

Then thank the interviewer for their time, and end the interview; They've failed your counter-interview.

When interviewing I look for people that just don't sit back and do what they're told. Someone proactive who can think of different ways of doing things. I would like to hear an answer like "Compared to other developers I've worked with in the past, I make more of an effort to talk with end users and try to target the system to make it more usable rather than just getting the functionality done." That shows something that might appeal more than the last guy we just interviewed.

I know other people like predictable developers who can crank out code from a big Jira list. Maybe they would like an answer about productivity over costs.

As you can tell it depends on the people, there is no right answer. :)

I fear I did a horrible job of describing it in those terms, though. Or perhaps the thoughtful responses like yours have just helped me clarify my thoughts on the topic. Because in reality, I'm a huge proponent of the creative side of development. I think it's often so underrated by many companies and interviewers.

Creativity is absolutely part of the value a good developer provides, and creative developers shouldn't hesitate to discuss that in interviews.

It'll sometimes be the case that the company of person interviewing you won't value creativity. Which is actually super useful to find out, because interviews are a two-way process. If you're a creative developer, and an interviewer makes it clear they don't care about that, they've helped you by letting you know unequivocally that you don't want you work for them.

In the past, I've interviewed with some early stage startup founders and CTOs who are intimately familiar with the company's bottom line, and who appreciated simple, direct answers.

It's probably smart in most cases to reiterate the value you'll deliver. Working well with the rest is the team is absolutely part of that value.