Or, as seems more accurate in this example, subjective belief that anyone should get arbitrary amount of praise for just showing up, instead of having to earn it through the process of honing and applying their skills.
Then the prototypes get handed off to the main engineers to run with, and support is provided. By the time the thing sees production usage, the original inventor has long since moved onto solving other problems on the horizon.
Praise is attributed to the last and loudest to have touched a project. Innovators are deeply satisfied by that and don't need the praise because it actually gets in the way.
The question is why elitism is wrong. Your statements rest on whether that perception of elite status is wrong. Well, if that is ever resolved, is elitism wrong or not? Ought power, profit, and position be shared?