Comment by hayst4ck

A job is a commodity if your manager knows how to do your job right now.

There is a subtlety. Your manager might be able to do your job, with time, but if they haven't spent time understanding the same data you have or the greater context of what you are doing, then they won't be able to come to the same conclusions you do.

Therefore your manager must trust your judgement because they do not have sufficient data to make the judgements you make yourself. This necessary deference is what prevents commoditization. Judgement is also unequal, being informed by experience and quality, further denying commoditization because all engineering decisions are not equal.

The corollary is also clear. If a manager thinks they know better than you and treats you like a commodity, then you are forced into performing a job in a dogmatic rather than analytical or informed way. You may be asked to do things that don't make sense or are even directly counter to the organizations goals because they don't know things you know.