I suspect, based purely on personal observation, that the bulk of programming is transitioning towards more shallow work. Nowadays the lone programmer staring at a screen in solitude for hours is something thats frowned upon. People are encouraged to seek assistance from others (and thus prevent them from doing deep work) earlier rather than later. Collaboration is prioritized, everyones plugged into something like Slack all day long and the “lone genius” type is viewed with suspicion.

And, if true, maybe thats because more programmers are doing shallower work — trying to use a framework properly rather than trying to come up with an incredibly sophisticated algorithm.

Just a thought.