"I think we as programmers vastly understimate how useful even basic programming would be to virtually anyone today."

There is also the attitude that when a non-professional programmer does assemble a few lines of code, automates a particular task, thus saving countless of hours, and creating lots of value, the programmers go: "Pffft, thats not real programming, that's only scripting"

and the coworkers possibly go "Why the hell did you so that, that's not your job. Slacker!"