I mean, everyone's trying. I've noticed a marked increase in the number of people in software engineering who are there first and foremost for the paycheck. Some of them don't even like writing software!

This doesn't necessarily correlate to skill at writing software, but I've also encountered a higher ratio of poor performers from this growing demographic, as well. The end result is that the median skill level seems to go down over time.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and seems like it should be expected as the pool of people working in software development grows.

But as time goes on, there are definitely more and more people who are trying (and succeeding!) at doing it.