The same can be said of being a great orator. Cicero is still known today largely for his oratory skills, and similar skills have served president Obama.
So does being a great biologist and research doctor. Edward Jenner saved countless lives through is work.
Code can multiply your effort, and that is why I code, but it is not the only thing that can, and in fact many technologies exist to multiply the effort in some form or fashion.
Clearly being a great writer, orator, or doctor have high coefficients. Being a great plumber probably has a lower coefficient. Being a great doorman might be still lower on the scale. (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a doorman, just taking it as an example of a skill with a low change-the-world coefficient)
I think all things being equal, it's better to learn things with a high coefficient. Of course personal enjoyment is important too, so when I say "everyone should learn to code" I'm of course not advocating forcing people to learn to code against their will…
But code goes further than that; since so much of our world is now digital, it multiplies these efforts in virtually every field, including the arts (there's a niche to be filled in custom automating the batch processing done in the photo production industry)