Reading Snowcrash, the guy gave up coding because "back in the day" a hacker could do it all alone but now it was all about software factories. That was in a book written in 2000.

Software is theory building, as Naur puts it. It's a learning process, a research project. Orgs have been trying to turn it into assembly line work forever. There's a lot of money in it.

I don't care. It has also never been easier to solo hack. There's great tooling for insanely productive languages out there. I won't say what I use because that's akin to religion around here. I'll say I'm super happy and would never in a million years become a factory worker. Even if it paid me 10x what I can make solo.

The idea of giving up mental traction for money sounds insane to me. I love to grip software with my own tendrils. There's nothing like it in the world, there has never been, and despite the current insane corponomics, I dare say it will keep getting more and more amazing for those who care to learn deeply.