"I know of many so called Technical leads who boast that they don't write code anymore, trying to imply that people who write code or who are good at tech stuff are generally incompetent people not deserving of progress."

very true, in fact I know a bunch of people who want to become tech lead so that they don't have to write any code. Such companies are surviving only due to $ - Rs conversion rates. People outsourcing work to such companies are bound to get hurt.