I agree, my immediate reaction was that mechanical engineer is not a trades worker.

I majored in mechanical engineering at college. We had a required programming class. A lot of people like myself already knew how to program before we took the class too. We also had a required electronics class. My experience is that most folks with CS degrees would be surprised by the breadth of what mechanical/aerospace/chemical/etc. engineers learn.

I didn’t read the article but if he is really an actual mechanical engineer then this is not that interesting. Mechanical engineers build a lot of technical software. Most fluid dynamics code or vibration code is probably written by mechanical engineers. Now, some times people say “mechanical engineer” but they don’t mean someone that studied FFTs.