It's not about being in denial. It's that this argument has been brought up with every advance in the last 40 years.
In the early '70s it was "Programming in C will allow anyone to program and commoditize the industry!".
In the later '70s it was "Object-oriented programming allows modules to be created that snap together like legos, commoditizing the industry!".
In the '80s-90s it was "Scripting languages like ruby and python are so simple, it's almost like writing real english! It's so simple you won't even need a programmer."
In the early '00s it was "Scratch and other visual programming languages will create a platform that everyone can understand! You can learn it yourself, you don't need a developer."
Now, it's "Libraries and tooling are getting so great, what used to take 100 engineers now takes 5. In a few years, it will take zero!"
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That obviously isn't proof that this time is the same as the others. However, this article gives no evidence that I can see why this simplification and removal of inefficiencies is any different than the others.
Yea...and it has gotten easier. I'd bet the average level of software dev (writ large) today is lower than 20 years ago because it's getting easier. (Though I'd bet there's probably more great devs today ever because the pool of devs itself is growing and becoming more accessible)
Sure, having MS Word doesn't make you a novelist, but Wordpress + plug-ins can let you make your own pretty high-quality news site with very little technical knowledge - that's real improvement.
I'd say to just give it time.
My company is doing this to another set of engineers in the mechanical / manufacturing space, so I hear these types of complaints all the time.
Most Wordpress themes are highly inefficient in regards to load time and bandwidth. There are some great plugins but most are sub par quality in terms of performance and security. All large scale Wordpress deployments are tuned either by in-house engineering staff or http://vip.wordpress.com/
In the early '70s it was "Programming in C will allow anyone to program and commoditize the industry!".
In the later '70s it was "Object-oriented programming allows modules to be created that snap together like legos, commoditizing the industry!".
In the '80s-90s it was "Scripting languages like ruby and python are so simple, it's almost like writing real english! It's so simple you won't even need a programmer."
In the early '00s it was "Scratch and other visual programming languages will create a platform that everyone can understand! You can learn it yourself, you don't need a developer."
Now, it's "Libraries and tooling are getting so great, what used to take 100 engineers now takes 5. In a few years, it will take zero!"
--
That obviously isn't proof that this time is the same as the others. However, this article gives no evidence that I can see why this simplification and removal of inefficiencies is any different than the others.