[Alex3917]

> a large chunk of software engineering is CRUD apps and digital plumbing, which doesn't require a lot of creativity

The issue is more precision and lucidity of thought and language, and the ability to communicate ideas and emotion to others from a given culture and socioeconomic background.

Consider that when development velocity grinds to a halt because of "technical debt", this is almost always just a euphemism for developers not being able to read each other's code. (I understand there is an actual idea behind technical debt, I'm just talking about what's almost always happening in practice.)