Earlier quoted context omitted.
> bare minimum But a lot of people aren't even doing that. They're choosing to pick more lucrative career paths such as pushing JavaScript for cat photo social networks, working on ways to increase engagement for users to see ads, and whatever other ways FAANGs previously propped up by low interest rates, or startups propped up by VC funding, make money. That work isn't necessarily easier, but it's not semiconductor…
I hear these arguments all the time. If software engineering is such a cushy, desirable, lucrative job, why don't more people do it? It's easy to forget the thousands of hours it takes to become competent in this field once you've been in it for a while. Most people simply do not care enough to take the time to learn to do it despite being fully capable. It ain't rocket surgery.
Lots of people are, and try, that's why bootcamps and Leetcode prep have been so big for the past decade. More and more people are joining, but also there's a lot of demand so jobs are unfilled.
(You're also completely failing to read when I said "that work isn't necessarily easier".)
My point is that a lot of people gravitate towards those hot industries, definitely more people than those going to lesser-paying industries in say semiconductor manufacturing, which is what TFA is about. My point is your comment about "attitudes exacerbating downward mobility" have nothing to do with why people don't want to work in semiconductor manufacturing.