So you're another 'me too *nix fanboi' who thinks that the ability to download a tar.gz, unpack it and type configure and make makes him a programmer.
Well it may not make you a programmer, but it sure makes you a better System Administrator. Even at the programming level, compiling your own programs DOES make you a better programmer because building an executable from the code, makes you aware of libraries and how they interact on your system. When you just install pre-built binaries, it's like being thrown a fish, instead of learning how to fish.