This is the most compelling argument I've read in the whole thread as to why engineers are not artists

But it was tongue-in-cheek. Of course code or software can be an art , but the term engineer is nowadays limited to the implementor rather than the entire work.

is someone disqualified if they make money?

As a person who chose a (software) engineering career over an artistic one, mostly because I was afraid of being poor, I often wonder whether I made the right choice, economically speaking.

I know a few full-time artists who make at least as much as I do. They in turn know a lot of artists who make WAY more than I do.

Sure, I chose a lower-risk path, but was the higher risk as extreme as my young self thought?

There aren't hundreds of thousands of artists making good money, but I think there are likely thousands.

> They in turn know a lot of artists who make WAY more than I do.

They all probably know the same artists though. Popularity is a bitch.