I disagree with that assessment. Sophisticated open source, IaaS, and SaaS offerings greatly lower the barrier of entry in this industry and ought to have a negative effect on wages as dictated by supply and demand.
Your argument undermines itself by highlighting that a single open-source-equipped person can do the job of 3 grey beards of old. That automation of labor runs counter to rising wages.
As another data point, some of the highest paid engineers in the industry - those manning in the private battlements of the FAANG citadels - are specialist steeped in closed source arcana. I myself have been such an acolyte for many years.
My own take on the situation is that the distribution of skillets will further take on a bimodal distribution: the specialists and the generalists.
For now both the supply of sophisticated tools and capable practitioners has not kept pace with the demand from modernizing business. When the demand is met and equilibrium reached, I expect salaries to normalize back to what other technical professionals command (e.g. aerospace and civil engineers).
Your argument undermines itself by highlighting that a single open-source-equipped person can do the job of 3 grey beards of old. That automation of labor runs counter to rising wages.
As another data point, some of the highest paid engineers in the industry - those manning in the private battlements of the FAANG citadels - are specialist steeped in closed source arcana. I myself have been such an acolyte for many years.
My own take on the situation is that the distribution of skillets will further take on a bimodal distribution: the specialists and the generalists.
For now both the supply of sophisticated tools and capable practitioners has not kept pace with the demand from modernizing business. When the demand is met and equilibrium reached, I expect salaries to normalize back to what other technical professionals command (e.g. aerospace and civil engineers).