I don't think that's a very useful analogy since the standard for professional athletes is an inflated moving target. Athletes are evaluated strictly in compari

I don't think that's a very useful analogy since the standard for professional athletes is an inflated moving target. Athletes are evaluated strictly in comparison to other athletes and only the best athletes at a given time are chosen for a very small set of positions. Whereas in software development, there are lots of positions for the same specialization and plenty of average people can make a comfortable living.