[jrm4]

Aha, you pointed out the disease.

This is the biggest problem in software and it's kind of intractable.

The ideal world has tools that empower everyone to do what they need to do, which to some extent must include an activity like programming.

But, and this may be unconscious, "people who program for a living" have a strong incentive to gatekeep.

[taylodl]

What's amazing is people who program for a living, who people would normally think of as being "experts", have so little knowledge of all the different types of programming that is done by, well, people who program for a living, and the tools they use to do that programming.

Not only then is it gatekeeping, it's also a sign of an inexperienced programmer.

I'll give one thing to Python programmers, they tend to work directly with their end users and build solutions that matter to them. Anyone that's done that kind of work knows it's difficult, regardless of programming language being used.

[jrm4]

And arguably, is the more "important" work, or at least the stuff requiring the most attention?

I know that's a tough thing to say -- but yeah, the irony is that a really really good "low-level programmer" is destined for obscurity, because things just work and once they're working people forget about it. Shouts to Linus Torvalds.

[toenail]

You're saying that specialization is bad and that specialists can't be experts.

[taylodl]

No. I'm saying people that make these ignorant statements aren't experts.

[toenail]

I see, thanks.