I think the same thing, but most of the hard skills you listed like understanding computers/engineering/networks are pretty irrelevant. Those all can be abstra

I think the same thing, but most of the hard skills you listed like understanding computers/engineering/networks are pretty irrelevant. Those all can be abstracted in many situations. Working through complex mental maps is all you need. Thinking through all possibilities and edge cases, and logically ordering instructions to represent a mental model. It's similar to chess where you have to evaluate every possible and unexpected scenario. If you're good at chess you'll almost certainly be good at programming. If "programming is easy" for some people it's because this one skill comes naturally, and beginners should be made aware of that before they get unrealistic expectations.