I agree many people can study law / arts or even nothing at all and just do a bootcamp (or even just study at home without a bootcamp) and become a software eng

I agree many people can study law / arts or even nothing at all and just do a bootcamp (or even just study at home without a bootcamp) and become a software engineer / data analyst / etc. But the closer you are to the average, the harder it will probably get to successfully make those switches. Someone who is 30 and finished liberal arts has a big psychological hurdle that works against him when he'll try to switch occupations. Self doubt often creeps, sunk cost fallacy etc. Now the closer you are to average in iq / will power / whatever it is that determines success in engineering, the harder making this switch gets, especially when you're not in your 20s anymore. So to sum up my point is yes everything is possible in theory, but no - we are not created equal. We differ greatly by intelligence, background, emotional intelligence, our ability to change etc etc. The more closer you are to the average part of the curve the smarter you have to play the hand you were dealt.