That distinction clearly doesn't matter to employers.

As this thread demonstrates, anyone can make 6 figures after spending a few weeks learning to program. They have every bit as much market value as long time software developers do.

It's only a matter of time (a year or two at most) before we're all paid slightly more than janitors - the field clearly (demonstrably) has no barrier to entry whatsoever. Literally anyone can become a professional software developer in less time than it takes to pass high school algebra.

I think that certain parts of the developer job market are easy to get into. And in those parts of the market, things feel a bit bubbly right now. And so you're seeing big salaries for new entrants to the market. If you jumped into the market and took a new job, you'd probably be able to match or beat them.

If the dev job market is in a bit of a bubble state, your experience will serve you well when it bursts. This is especially true if you have experience with distributed systems, or database optimization, or any number of complicated things that newcomers to the market aren't as likely to have.

I could certainly be wrong about the bubbliness of the market, though. I've been wrong about things often enough before. :)

What you're posting is provably false. There's a huge barrier to entry that's obscured by being selective in reading replies and your own confirmation biases.

It doesn't contribute in any way to the discussion and is misleading and quite toxic to be honest.