He probably tried to say that taking care of toddlers is a bigger positive impact on society than writing some crappy code that will be discarded a year later.

He probably tried to say that taking care of toddlers is a bigger positive impact on society than writing some crappy code that will be discarded a year later. Yes, some software is important to the world and makes it a much better place. Vast majority of the code does not make such impact though. And then there's plenty of code that makes the world a worse place (insert your favourite evil company here).