I did some research on this a few years back, and programming requires less work to get into and self-teach than almost any other field. It boils down to three things. One, the only tool you need to learn programming is a computer, unlike other fields of engineering where you need expensive lab equipment. Two, programs give you fast feedback on whether you did something right or not, unlike more abstract fields where you need a mathematician to tell you if your proof is right or not. Three, programmers are exceptionally good at publicly sharing their knowledge. You can learn any programming language or software tool, along with many of the techniques and footguns, for free online. (This research was all before LLMs. On one hand, LLMs are incredibly good at writing and explaining code, which should make programming more accessible. On the other hand, LLMs cost money, so it's no longer that everybody has all the tools of software engineering at home.) If people think of programming as a priestly class, it's because most people don't actually want to learn all the weird computer bullshit required to program well. Just because it's easy to self-teach programming doesn't mean everybody will!