I've been helping people with programming, from students struggling with classes, thru people trying to get 1st job, to people working in industry.
They were passing their classes, getting jobs and completing their tasks.
So I've witnessed how maaaany things people need to learn, what things are not easy to them and so on.
I'm not saying other jobs are easy/easier, but none of my friends, who work in "traditional" industries like homebuilding, road maintenance, manufacturing, etc, etc. needed to push THIS MANY hours into it in order to get 1st job, be decent on it, improve, get promoted, etc.
Almost none of them is learning during their free time in order to get better, etc.
>If you want a challenge, try almost any other job than development, and you'll realize how easy all this stuff actually is.
I mean, difficult != hard.
software eng. is difficult cuz requires a lot of time to put into in order to be proficient.
software engineering is easy? you live in bubble, try teaching programming to someone new to it and you'll realize how muuuuch effort it requires