A lot of times, you find that lot of people are software engineers because they are related or affiliated to a software engineer in one way or the other. Typically, career professionals tend to lend a hand to other struggling career professionals from other fields, with software engineering, it involves coaching or mentoring the individual who is making the career shift. Because of this pattern, you'll find that if you ask a couple of software engineers, they'll tell you someone suggested it to them and their relative or friend decided to teach them. It follows from the logic of teaching one how to catch fish rather than handing out fish. In my environment, such an act is now termed "cutting soap".
THERE ARE SEVERAL ROLES IN THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY
Be that as it may, it is important to realize that not everyone has an interest in spending quality time with computers (something that is important in software engineering), and those who were able to spend time with computers at the beginning may eventually decide they want to change career or move to something less telling on their health or less fast-paced. There are a growing number of support roles in the software engineering field, it's not just all about writing code. The entire software development life cycle involves other technical professionals like DevOps engineers, Technical writers, UI/UX designers, Product managers, SCRUM masters, developer advocates, etc.
The point I'm getting at is that within the industry, there's so much room to move, there's also no reason why anyone has to remain stuck in a particular role like Edidiong Asikpo said. It also means that software engineers who want to "cut soap" for their loved ones don't have to recommend roles that involve writing code.