I completely agree, but from personal experience, it's _very_ hard to get a job that allows you to actually write code when you wind up in the sort of role you'

I completely agree, but from personal experience, it's _very_ hard to get a job that allows you to actually write code when you wind up in the sort of role you're describing. At least for me, there has always been a strict firewall between "developers" and "domain experts". The roles are dictated by the degree you have. Basically, as a "domain expert" you wind up doing tech support (i.e. help desk / call center / on-site training, etc) for whatever gets developed instead of actually gaining any software development experience. Admittedly, my experience is entirely restricted to large corporate settings, so the situation is probably very different at smaller companies.