Assembly has been largely replaced by higher level programming languages.
And since SQL is a fourth generation declarative language, I really don't see how it could go the same way as assembly by being replaced with imperative programming. It's already more expressive and succint, and have stronger abstractions from implementation details, than imperative programming languages.
Also from my experience there seems to a culture of negative motivation going on around engineers/programmers. I've seen a lot of it in open source projects and amongst engineers both professionally and in education. People berate and punish in order to make people understand what is wanted/needed, instead of engaging in teamwork and constructive feedback.
I don't see how being self-driven, independent and generally more self-reliant makes you more suitable for employment. Why would such a person want to be an employee?
If you have to work around the clock, can't take a vacation, and can't afford medical insurande, doesn't that mean your business idea is shit and doesn't hold?
Easier to bash the whole concept of starting your own business, instead of admitting failure I suppose...
I agree that this is a very good way of doing things. And when you are a freelancer you should manage your clients and take care of things like this.
What bothers me though is when this happens (and at least for me it always does) in a corporate environment, where this is clearly managing and therefor the job of the manager.
I don't mind helping with management as well as doing the actual coding, but then I'd like this added responsibility to be acknowledged so that time can be allocated for this, and that my salary can be adjusted to be closer that of a manager.
Unfortunately at many workplaces I've seen management are mostly playing politics amongst themselves, and then occasionally bully developers into taking over full management responsibility when some developing is to be done.