Four years, tens of thousands of dollars, and a degree used to be the standard price of admission for turning a software idea into something real. That price bought you the ability to translate a concept into working code, a skill that took years to actually develop.

That price doesn't apply anymore, at least not for a huge range of what people actually want to build. Describing an app the way you'd explain it to a friend, and having a real, working version come back, replaces the years of technical training that used to be mandatory just to attempt it.

This doesn't erase the value of deep technical expertise for genuinely complex systems. It does mean the gate that used to stand between everyone else and building something real quietly opened, and most people haven't noticed yet that the gate isn't there anymore.

The four years weren't teaching creativity or good ideas. They were teaching syntax. Syntax is the part that just became optional.