I see it as a systemic problem. There isn't one root cause, but a lot of factors. For example, the "hacker" archetype really rooted in people's minds is mostly

I see it as a systemic problem. There isn't one root cause, but a lot of factors. For example, the "hacker" archetype really rooted in people's minds is mostly a product of movies, TV and books. At the same time, those movies, TVs and books draw inspiration from each other, and new ones are made by people influenced by them. Its a mess of feedback loops. In the same messy feedback-loopy kind of way, they afect how ALL software engineers are represented in media, how other characters react and interact with them, and all the conclusions people might get from them (most classic e.g.: programmer = awkward nerd, so If i'm neither awkward nor a "nerd" then I shouldn't be a programmer)