In the context of the parent article, I have spent ample time cleaning up the code and mess of people who get excited about something, then about something else, and never complete what they begin.
It could be just a semantic difference, but I would prefer someone who is steadfast rather than passionate--because most work isn't poetry, it's plumbing.
I don't think being excited/passionate about something means "messy and can't complete projects" - that means they are perhaps excited about the wrong thing.
Some plumbers actually like plumbing. The act of creating things, reading about new techniques/materials/tools, solving the occasional interesting plumbing problem, working with customers and other contractors (and learning about THEIR needs so they can be a better plumber). If they are that kind of plumber, they go home and read Plumberblog.com, hang out with other plumbers talking shop, etc.
"I don't think being excited/passionate about something means "messy and can't complete projects" - that means they are perhaps excited about the wrong thing."
It doesn't correlate 100%, but the majority of stuff I've seen by the visibly 'passionate/excited' people does indeed end up far more of a mess than other code I've had the pleasure of working on.
It can indeed just mean someone is excited about the craft, but usually, from what I've seen, people are getting excited about learning new things, and almost by definition, they don't know how to use those things efficiently. Things = libs, coding techniques, etc. Those 'things' don't have to be 'new', just 'new' to the passionate individual. In those cases, the 'excitement' is coupled with "my first time doing X".
It could be just a semantic difference, but I would prefer someone who is steadfast rather than passionate--because most work isn't poetry, it's plumbing.