the rock stars of the wrong industry.

I wasn't expecting to have one of the most thought-provoking conversations of the year on my

son's eighth grade history trip, but there I was, standing in the middle of some historical

landmark, talking to my friend Jeff, a father and successful business owner.

We weren't discussing historical dates or famous figures.

Instead, we were knee-deep in a discussion about the modern business landscape and something Jeff had noticed.

We're getting advice from the wrong people.

Now Jeff runs a pretty successful company.

He's seen ups and downs, grown his business over the years, and knows what it means to stay consistent.

But this conversation was about a different kind of success, the flashier kind.

The kind that comes when a particular skill set or industry suddenly explodes in value

and the people working in that space get rocketed into a level of wealth and status

that's usually reserved for movie stars and hedge fund managers.

In this case we were talking about software engineers.

Jeff pointed out that in the last decade or so, software engineers became the rock

stars of the modern world.

Think about it. You had guys who knew how to code, essentially a blue-collar trade, suddenly commanding half million dollar salaries and six-figure signing bonuses. And why? Because companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and countless startups were in an

arms race to hire them. There weren't enough coders to go around, and tech became the

driving force of the economy. I mean picture this

a 25 year old with a basic skill set that's suddenly in high demand driving around

in a Ferrari wearing the latest fashion and living the high life. And in a society where money equals importance, these engineers weren't just seen as rich. They were seen as smart. They became the people everyone wanted to get advice from, not just on coding, but on business, finance, life choices, you name it.

Because hey, if they're rich, they must know something the rest of us don't, right? Here's where Jeff really got me thinking.

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