I think you're assuming that Wordpress types aren't worth what a Rubyist might be.
I know a quite a few consultants who are ridiculously smart at business and realize that WP and other off-the-shelf solutions can solve the majority of the problems they work on, and have hourly rates that eclipse the majority of "real freelance programmers" rates.
This is correct. I use WordPress, but I use it to accomplish business goals for my clients. That's worth much more to the person signing the checks than someone who knows Rails well, but doesn't bring anything to the table when it comes to what should be built; only how to build.
I know a quite a few consultants who are ridiculously smart at business and realize that WP and other off-the-shelf solutions can solve the majority of the problems they work on, and have hourly rates that eclipse the majority of "real freelance programmers" rates.