The problem is that most “professional” developers — i.e. people who write software as a career — are terrible at those things. Even (especially, sometimes) tho

The problem is that most “professional” developers — i.e. people who write software as a career — are terrible at those things. Even (especially, sometimes) those that call themselves Software Engineers and talk endlessly about the right way to do things. That is not to say the kind of software engineer that does what you say and tends to build quality software (or at least move it in that direction) doesn’t exist, but the demand for people who can make computers do stuff (loosely, developers) so far outstrips the supply that outside of a few bubbles (HN being one of them), they appear to be so vanishingly rare they might as well not exist. I’m sure some scientists get to work with useful and highly valuable professional developers, but I’d be amazed if they were the majority.