[20180201]

i wouldn't say that you're wrong per se, but maybe a bit too generous to the narrowly defined class of "software developer". plenty of other fields employ the same class of cognitively elite individuals.

off the top of my head:

* lawyers and accountants and some types of financial professionals * aerospace engineers, rocket scientists, defense engineers * physicists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers etc.

many of these people also write software as part of their job, at a more-than-competent level, while i don't think your average software engineer could do their job in any capacity whatsoever after i.e. 10 years of experience of just writing code.

[peoplewindow]

But why do those people not found companies like Amazon? When was the last time the CEOs of existing companies feared disruption by a firm founded by an accountant? Why was the United Launch Alliance apparently so helpless in the face of SpaceX despite ULA being made of experienced industry old hands and Musk having to literally teach himself rocket science as a first step?

many of these people also write software as part of their job, at a more-than-competent level

Really? Have you ever seen code written by mechanical engineers or accountants? I have! My experience is that an experienced programmer working inside a large enterprise will have a much firmer grasp of the business than the business-side people will have of software development.