In any creative work, output is dynamic.

If you're working in an assembly line or checkout at the grocery store, your productivity isn't as variable. Assuming customers/inputs are always lined up, you'll process a similar number every hour and the quality is somewhat static.

In cloud infrastructure, I notice quality of work is highly variable. Some engineers will bandaid everything to get the task done. It's easy to do that.

Other engineers create solutions taking into account the current technical environment, business requirements and future concerns. I don't think we should hide from this fact. Software engineering as a profession becomes worth more the more we realize there's a difference in quality and quantity dependent on the engineer's abilities.

While it's true that some software developers are way too confident in their own abilities, I'd wager that in the general case most of us need to do more and better "sales" (tactfully acknowledging our own accomplishments). Stigmatizing that with labels only serves to keep all the metaphorical crabs in the bucket.