I love software and always will, but I don't think it's the kind of job you can stagnate in happily. Like any creative endeavor. I think everyone has periods where they take a step back from code for a while, if not entirely.
Programming is a weird kind of job. Imagine what you can do, all the possibilities. You can create something worth billions in your mind alone.
On the other hand you are spending your life putting out fires. Software breaks. It always does. You day by day job is finding the flaw in the system. Not to mention that you will program other peoples requirements not the fun stuff one does at home.
I started doing this with people. Debugging people. It is not fun and has started to make my life not as pleasant as it used to be.
You can create something worth billions in your mind alone.
No you can't. Every billion dollar product, or even million dollar product, is the result of a team of people doing many more things than writing code.
I think what you're saying is that an example is not generally proof that just anyone can. It goes a long way in disproving that its impossible, however. There could be a large amount of luck involved in everything and we just don't know it.
Another way to look at it, is as a scientific experiment, which is by definition falsifiable. "X became a multi-billionaire by using only skills" is hardly a falsifiable statement.
