Yeah, I'd generalize the advice to: don't be a programmer, be a domain expert who happens to write good code.
I think that's still extremely valuable advice in a world where "hackers" are obsessed with the whizziest language, version-control system, editor, database flavor, etc., and other sorts of largely irrelevant technical ephemera that ages like dead fish.
Meanwhile, nobody understands statistics. It's a problem.
> don't be a programmer, be a domain expert who happens to write good code.
A million times, yes. I work in RF design, which feels like an extremely stodgy part of electrical engineering. People think Excel spreadsheets are the bee's knees, even when changing one potential part in your circuit means re-entering its parameters by hand. Don't even ask them to sweep across different frequency points (which affects part performance).
I get a lot more benefit out of writing some short programs in python that allow me to quickly iterate through possible designs, and across a serious breadth of options, than these "Excel engineers" do out of their worksheets. It's frustrating to watch so many people ignore so much potential to improve their work and output.
If there is a one takeaway for me here, it'd also be "don't be programmer, be a domain expert who happens to write good code". Well said!
As for the frustration you have by observing people doing mundane tasks; I bet every person who has had some decent exposure to programming have felt this way at some point (i.e "re-entering parameters by hand in excel"). And this seems so prevalent that sometimes I wonder if people should be force-fed process automation in their daily tasks. Say, we start from schools where children are deliberately given such exercises where where they have to perform tedious tasks; and then they are taught to spot and come up with ways to automate in order to speed up. Organizations could also have such culture in place where they constantly look for things that may be unnecessarily consuming employees' times, etc.
PS, obviously I am not talking about programmers as it's in their mindset to try to optimize any work they're confronted with.
I think that's still extremely valuable advice in a world where "hackers" are obsessed with the whizziest language, version-control system, editor, database flavor, etc., and other sorts of largely irrelevant technical ephemera that ages like dead fish.
Meanwhile, nobody understands statistics. It's a problem.