Interesting, that’s not been my experience.
I’m a self-taught developer and I’ve only focused on areas I’ve been interested in, which has been fun for me.
I wouldn’t be hired as a Sr. Engineer at a FAANG but I was able to build a successful development agency by just following what I wanted to learn about.
But I could see how at enterprise scale how that might not work. But at startup scale it’s been really effective for me.