The rate of innovation in software is not constrained by capital or physics (and to a lesser extent regulation) to the extent it is in other engineering disciplines, which overweights the importance of individual skill and execution in outcomes. Software isn't an intrinsically high-margin business, but the cost of creating and operating in new high-margin business frontiers is uniquely low, allowing individuals to leave the rapidly commoditizing part of the software business in the rear-view mirror.

The margins would be single-digits if the pace of change and innovation possible was like other engineering disciplines. The business of software engineering evolves at an incredible rate that would be unimaginable in the engineering discipline I went to school for.