The term hacker has a long and storied history. A hacker is someone who makes hacks. A hack is a thing, typically a piece of code, which must be appreciated for its aesthetic beauty, regardless of whether it's particularly useful. [This term was obviously originally used sarcastically]. People strove to become hackers. It was a badge of honor.

In the 1980s the term "hacker" was possibly conflated with "cracker" by stupids in the media, and came to mean a software pirate or kid who broke into the Pentagon. But the proper meaning still hasn't been lost with the graybeards among us.