Comment by highwaylights

Unsure if the conclusion here naturally follows your premise.

Doctors require lots of qualifications which is a barrier to entry into the career. This significantly drives up compensation.

Are most doctors really more than human frontends to webmd? Probably not.

Source: my doctor told me this (really).

Extending this to SWE. A degree may not be necessary to enter the field anymore, but I don't see how it should be less of a requirement than for a regular consulting GP. Both are expected to understand fundamentals well, and both can cause harm if they do their job badly - I'd argue the SWE can cause a lot more harm to be honest.

If it seems like I'm suggesting qualifications should be mandatory for SWEs, I'm not. I'm saying other professions are revered in a way that we aren't - and I don't see the evidence it's especially warranted.