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Software engineering as a field has exceptionally low worker solidarity. This is largely because the talent and productivity is so stratified that even the median engineer produces an order of magnitude less value than the p95. Furthermore, a sufficient amount of opportunities exist —for engineers to become capitalists by founding, joining, or investing in an enterprise early enough to capture its upside— to credibly convince individuals that they may achieve this.

Software engineers in aggregate will happily automate themselves out of a job. Legal cartels like the AMA and the ABA will persist. It would take years of strong threats to software engineers' livelihoods to compel them to support a cartel of their own. Even the first step for their regulatory capture, credentialization, is rejected, as enough autodidacts without degrees practice in the field.

Essentially, too many software engineers view themselves as temporary embarrassed millionaires, rather than workers who need to band together. Automation in the field is happening faster than individuals' minds will change.