Not true. If your job involves anything resembling programming (programmers, sysadmins, even helpdesk (unless it's at a pure read-from-the-script level)), tinkering on some code can improve your ability to do your job. Starcraft almost certainly won't.

All a programmer is, is a person who can reduce complex instructions into very, very simple commands

And that's not doing things differently and having a different approach than "normal" people?