I feel that programming ability rises by roughly an order of magnitude every decade, as one learns more approaches to problem solving. I've been programming ov

I feel that programming ability rises by roughly an order of magnitude every decade, as one learns more approaches to problem solving. I've been programming over 30 years, so my daily productivity may be something like 1/1000 of what I'd be capable of if I had something like JARVIS in the Iron Man movies. That's a total humblebrag and I'm no Tony Stark, I'm not saying that. Just that I'm concerned that if we view programmer aptitude through the lens of productivity instead of the complexity of problem that can be solved, then programmers will eventually find themselves underemployed. For my mental health, I had to let my ego die and begin to look beyond my personal contribution (which will always pale in comparison to my dreams). I view programmers now as enabling larger groups of people to work and support their families. In a very real sense, we sacrifice our human potential on minutia so that others don't have to. Like how doctors move to small towns to help people instead of landing large salaries at major hospitals. I'm sad that people who win the internet lottery are often spared ego death, so hoard their wealth and never wake up to a greater understanding of how they could pay it forward outside of models built on the profit motive.