People who don’t code classically underestimate its difficulty. People who code and think it’s not difficult are probably not sufficiently self-critical to know they’re not doing it well. Those who know it’s difficult, ironically, are probably doing it best. (Thanks, imposter syndrome!) One good engineer is worth dozens of mediocre ones.

All that being said, the dig that coding isn’t a “hard skill” rings true, in a certain context. Even brilliant engineers can (but don’t always) struggle with people skills. These are so often termed “soft skills,” but they are, ironically, hard to learn and even harder to master. But then again — so is coding.

In the end, a leader who understand the tech is better off for it. An engineer who understands people is better off for that. All around the table, everyone is better off if we recognize the value of other people’s skills that may be different from our own. Assuming that what anyone else does isn’t hard is unforgivably arrogant — and coming from a “leader,” it’s a very good indicator that they haven’t actually mastered those people skills that they claim set them apart from those lowly engineers.