Pound For Pound: The Most Valuable Profession

If you sit back and think for a moment; What is the most valuable profession, or; What is the profession that single-handedly contributes the most to the world? Most will say the big obvious ones: Physician, Clergy, Politician, Real Estate, Lawyers, Nuclear Scientist, Quantum Physicist... Let's convince you, it's a Software Engineer.

If you go to Google and enter the search phrase : what is the most valuable profession, the Google algorithm returns the following:

Here is a link to the full list of Top 50, most "valuable" professions in the world for your further review. There are thousands of these lists. None of them seem to answer the question. What is the most valuable profession? As in, what is the profession that is contributing the most to mankind and the potential of the human experience? What is the profession that is capable of changing the world, preserving humanity, advancing science, exploring deep space, and surviving global pandemics? What profession that gives us the ability to function in the modern world, globally?

The Software Engineer

Interestingly, the Google algorithm querying the search phrase: what is the most valuable profession, is associating the terms "valuable" with annual income potential. Through one lens, that makes alot of sense. Through another lens, the curious part, is the algorithm, associating value with salary, was created by, is maintained by, and improves, innovates and accelerates mankind by, Software Engineers. They seem to have forgotten about themselves and you'd imagine that the Google engineers running this program are making far more in salary, than the Anesthesiologist salary from the above infographic.

If you think about how software intersects with your modern life, let's zoom out and take a look at every single thing in your personal and professional world. At this point, in the modern household, one that would likely be reading this article, every single thing in your possession, on your person, in your orbit, was touched by a Software Engineer. The antique that you imported, on a plane, with modern logistics technology delivering it to your door, or the generational family heirloom, that is kept safe from tarnish or decay in your household which maintains a comfortable average tempature and humidity through your thermostat, which controls your central air conditioning that was manufactured in a facility, entirely run by robotics software. Or perhaps the milk in your refrigerator that is likely run by a farm, that uses technology to deliver it to your farmers market, or grocery store, or Walmart. You get the point.

Not to mention the obvious fact that the mobile phone has already become a cybernetic extension of our human experience. We will save that conversation for @elonmusk Everything in our immediate world was forged by the modern day blacksmith; The Software Engineer.

Challenge the idea. Look at anything in your life. Even down to your relationships. "No technology there", you might say. Except for the weekly FaceTime, the credit card swipe for dinner together, the car ride, the movie theatre, the airplane to family vacations and the camera to capture the memories. Everything was built by a Software Engineer. Maybe think about an object such as a cup in your kitchen. A modern cup, not a hand made antique, but your average beer glass, mass produced by a factory entirely run by robotics software, point of sale software, fulfillment and order management software and the list goes on, all created by Software Engineers.

If you actually take a look at a list of Top Professions by Skill, by Salary, by Distinction, think about how much software it takes for these people to operate in those professions. Think about the individual profession and count the ways, from email, to websites, to insurance, to point of sale, to equipment, to anything imaginable, Software Engineers were there.

How long until the rest of the world knows what we already do? Pound for Pound, the most valuable profession, globally, is the software Engineer.