[xkqd]

I read that remark as, "in the grand scheme of things, we can't all have it good." - not as anything marked with disdain.

As for my own opinion? I don't think there's a stone software engineers are cut from, but I don't think most people could be effective at working on technology without dramatic improvements in a few different key areas between analytical (data driven) thinking and layered abstractions.

It's not that these things can't be learned - I certainly didn't learn these from my blue collar parents. It's that it takes significant investment of time that many adults can't dedicate.

[noduerme]

I view us (coders) as plumbers or car mechanics; and I'm certainly not a good plumber, and only a very primitive mechanic. One will pay me $200/hr for my time fixing software and I'll pay them $200/hr back to fix my car or my plumbing.

Anyone can learn a trade if they take the time to study and become proficient. I don't think it requires "privilege". Maybe twenty years ago you grew up too poor to have a computer in the house, but you certainly had a car or a toilet. And so some people learned to be proficient at fixing things, and other people ...? Not so much. But that's okay, because as you said, not everyone can be effective at working on technology.

However, that doesn't mean that the world needs to bend over backwards for people who can't get proficient at something.