They're doing brick-laying work until they aren't. Most problems are easy to solve and don't require very much fussing over. The expertise comes in knowing which problems are worth fussing over and which aren't.
Technology is becoming ever more present in our lives, not less.
Reducing software engineering to a low-skill trade when there is, in fact, mountains of complexity is surefire way for software to be a heap of shit. And in a lot of ways it already is.
