I've seen similar sentiment as well. It's difficult to blame people as I am certain individual experiences dictate how they feel about business. Software engine

I've seen similar sentiment as well. It's difficult to blame people as I am certain individual experiences dictate how they feel about business. Software engineering in particular feels like something that is just fundamentally misunderstood by most people. If I looked out and saw a half constructed building I would not tell customers that it is almost done. Most people can grasp that a building needs materials sourced from many vendors, some people working on certain aspects (plumber, carpenter, framer, etc), but for some reason they just look at software and are convinced it is a lack of resolve or dedication or something. I blame the popular notion of hacking together Facebook over a long weekend or similar. There is usually a lack of respect and clear communication at the heart of negative feelings. I attempt to properly level set expectations so there is even room for the soft skills you identified. It's hard to deploy them when the business has a fundamental misunderstanding and antagonism towards development.