[doktrin]

> Most of the well-paid programmers I know (including quite a few at AmaGooFaceSoft) can't wrap their heads around databases well enough to deploy a low-traffic web application.

I honestly don't believe this. You did caveat that this is anecdotal, but it's such a bold claim of ignorance I think it should be qualified.

> And this industry is now rather routinely hiring totally inexperienced people, right out of bootcamps, at salaries that are mind-blowing to most professionals

This is also dubious. It clearly does occasionally happen, but those candidates are also not as inexperienced as you imply ( e.g they typically hold STEM degrees like mechEng, chem, physics, Maths - often from prestigious Universities - or have years of experience with non-dev technical work like security, IT, ETL, etc. )

[timr]

"this is also dubious. It clearly does occasionally happen, but those candidates are also not as inexperienced as you imply"

Sorry, but no. It happens All. The. Time. Bootcamp grads are working everywhere, especially in SF. Throw a stone at the next Off the Grid, and you'll hit one, the stone will ricochet, and you'll hit another. These sorts of folks are readily employed in the writing of CSS and creation of web forms, which is ~99.8% of all day-to-day webapp work.

(Also: holding a physics degree and attending a bootcamp doesn't mean you're a competent programmer. Imagine suggesting that a BS in Physics makes you a competent structural engineer. The fact that you would imply this almost makes my point for me.)