I don't think by "non-programmers" he meant "people who don't actively program". I think he meant "people that don't even know how to program". In this articl

I don't think by "non-programmers" he meant "people who don't actively program". I think he meant "people that don't even know how to program". In this article bill gates says in the first line that he no longer writes code. But clearly he would not classify as a "non-programmer". Today's managers can still provide valuable input (e.g. algorithm design - like Gates did when this article was written) even if they don't code day to day. I'm a program manager at Microsoft so I don't actually write code. That said, I majored in CS and know my stuff pretty well. I don't consider myself a "non-programmer". That said, I try and increase my credibility among "my" devs by doing projects outside of work. This also helps me keep up with the times.