I agree with all of your points.

I also think software development has changed from being creative and fun to being competitive and up-tight.

But isn’t that just a function of time? 15 years ago software development, in many places, was “something “those strange guys down at IT” did. There wasn’t any higher level manager anywhere that even knew what to expect semi a development team. They didn’t even understand what it was, except that it was probably important to have. Today, software is the business itself. Everywhere. Even banks proclaim, in their strategies, that they are going to be “IT first”.

Software taking a more central role. Software being better understood. More people going into software related jobs.