I feel you about this issue of skill/reward ratio. And I've kept meditating a bit for some reason. What came to mind now is that, for making it "work better"(im

I feel you about this issue of skill/reward ratio. And I've kept meditating a bit for some reason. What came to mind now is that, for making it "work better"(improve that ratio) the software engineer could try to see himself as a bulldozer operator where he is the skilled one, of course, but the software he makes is the bulldozer. The reward is neither on them but in the outcome produced by the combination of them. How much material he could remove or push from here to there. That's why the STAR method is necessary in resumes or in interviews for example. We're so passionate about software that we could be easily become myopic about results and forget to talk about what's the outcome of the things we produce and use.