[zerohp]

That division of programmers is a very good model. I spent many years as a self-taught programmer of group (1) but I really wanted to do the work of group (2). I found the skill gap to be impossible to bridge on my own and went to college to do so. CS departments tend to focus on group (2) knowledge and only have a few electives for group (1). I've made several friends in their late 20's and early 30's who also went back to school to get out of group (1).

This model also works well for understanding many comments here on HN.