One reason for how much software developers are valued is how big part of modern business it is. From the Steve Jobs Lost Tapes in mid 90s: So software is infi

One reason for how much software developers are valued is how big part of modern business it is. From the Steve Jobs Lost Tapes in mid 90s: So software is infiltrating everything we do these days. In businesses, software is one of the most potent competitive weapons. One of the biggest business wars was "Friends and Family" in the last ten years. And what was that? It was a brilliant idea and a custom billing software. At&T didn't respond in 18 months, yielding billions of dollars of market share to MCI -- not because they were stupid but because they couldn't get the billing software done. At the moment there are about three times as many programming job openings in the US as there are programmers graduating from universities. No wonder developers get paid well.