This is part of the story and this is interesting, but as both an employer of technical workers and a technical worker myself it doesn’t seem so simple to me. I have certainly seen large numbers of entitled technical workers who simply refuse to learn anything new and are neither able to take initiative or willing to take direction. But it is undeniable that investing in software R&D is anathema to many corporate managers and also that US technical corporate management takes decisions to outsource often with zero substantive research on cost/benefits. And it’s not unusual to see situations where technical staff who actually create the products that bring in the wealth are shut out of the rewards. Corporations where top management who do mediocre work routinely earn millions while top technical talent is locked into some parsimonious wage scale are common. Also, as the soon-to-be US President has pointed out, the era in which corporate management takes decisions that hurt their own employees (or customers) without any sense of responsibility is one that needs to end. “Maximize shareholder value” is often used as an excuse for utter callousness and short sighted greed.
undervalued technical worker