[d23]

> I think "other careers don't require knowledge and ability like mine does" is the perfect example of illusory superiority.

Actually that's plenty fine. Just do a quick thought experiment: a career like garbageman or janitor. Some careers require more knowledge work than others. There's nothing wrong with that.

When did this attitude of "everything's equal all the time and nothing's different" become so pervasive and accepted?

[awkward]

If someone disagrees with the statement "programming is a fundamentally different career from everything else in terms of ability and knowledge required" it does not follow that they believe "all careers including garbageman and janitor are equal in ability and knowledge to programming and none of them are different."

[oldmanjay]

If someone disagrees with the statement "programming is a fundamentally different career from everything else in terms of ability and knowledge required" then they almost certainly don't know how to write good software.