Statistics being what they are, there’s a concern that’s not addressed here: the ascendency of AI. Firms like Microsoft are committed to having more than 50% of their code developed by AI. At some point it’ll be that AI is developing the code, and the senior level programmers who remain will do QA and some minor fixes. Computer programming will become a niche skill in 20 years.
AI is a long way from that. I taught programming at a Big Ten university and it’s pretty easy to spot an AI answer to a programming problem versus a “real” programmer. I seriously doubt that 50% of Microsoft’s code is written by AI. That might be a goal, but it’s still a long way off. AI, right now, is good at answering “fixed” questions (e.g., How many people are in the House of Representatives?), but not so hot on those that require “reasoning” to answer (e,g,. Which is better: Capitalism or Socialism?).