> Because other professional fields have not been subjected to a long running effort to commoditize software engineers.

In the United States, aren't Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant a "direct assault" on medical doctors? I assume these roles were created in a pushback at the expense of medical doctors.

    > And further, most other (cognitive) professionals are not subject to 'age shaming' and discounting of experience.

I am of two minds about this comment. TL;DR: "Yeah, but..." One thing that I have noticed in my career: Most people can pump out much more code and work longer hours when they are young. Then, when they get a bit older and/or start a family (and usually want better work/life balance), they start to play the "experience" card, which rarely translates into higher realised economic productivity. Yes, most young devs write crap code, but they can write a lot of it. If you can find good young devs, they are way cheaper and faster than experience devs. I write that sentence with the controversial view that most businesses don't need amazing/perfect software; they just need "good enough" (which talented juniors can more than provide).

When young people learn that I am a software developer, their eyes light up (thinking that I make huge money working for FAANG). Frequently, they ask if they should also become a software developer. I tell them no, because this industry requires constant self-learning that is very hard to sustain after 40. Then, you become a target for layoffs, and getting re-employed after 40 as a software dev can be very tough.