That's what modern programming is, as I see it. I mean, as you get more senior, you get more control further up the assembly line, but it's still shaped like an assembly line and ideally the programmers are replaceable, because otherwise they become a business risk.
I'm not necessarily a fan, of course. I invest myself in my work; that means I like a sense of ownership, where code is almost like a garden that grows over time. But the business will be concerned that if code is owned by people, resourcing is less flexible and, in the worst cases, individuals can become bottlenecks.
BTW, if you've seen a skilled sculptor at work, you might not be so glib about your 45 minute bust. But of course programmers are not like industrial designers; they're like the mostly unacknowledged craftsmen. Coding is closer to carpentry than architecture.
Regardless, the coding interview process doesn’t seem to measure creativity or craftmanship. Consider industrial designers, people who actually sometimes do mold clay as part of their job. If a company is serious about hiring an industrial designer, would they administer a test like this: “You now have 45 minutes to whittle a miniature bust of Mozart out of this piece of driftwood. Make sure to talk while you’re working so I can understand your thinking.”