I generally consider myself a 5x coder... I usually spend about 1/3 the day reading/learning and another 1/3 experimenting... only about 1/3 of a typical day will I be on-task, and usually still outpace my peers. This last 2-week cycle, I literally did all the assigned work, and refactored a few things that annoyed me in one caffeine fueled night.

I used to do design/graphix/ux work... that always interested me. Programming pays better, and I have a talent for it. I have spent time learning patterns, etc, but not through a formal education. I tend to just see a good way forward... creating discoverable code along the way. I find a lot of the time, the formal patterns tend to just make things more complicated than they need to be.

Just my own take on things. I'm kind of lazy in a good way. I have spurts where I will do a crazy amount in a short time, and those where I'm closer to coasting. Like many/most creative types, it varies.