Autistic people have bottom up processing. So when an autistic person gets into software engineering, it's likely that they have a "first principle" style of thinking.
Many neurotypicals I see don't have that as their default processing mode. They can do it, but it's not their default.
So what you get is something that you can see with blind people as well: they get better at hearing because they spend much more time with it compared to people that can see (except for musicians, etc.).
Autistic software engineers spend a lot more time with bottom up style thinking (aka being detailed).
I'm on the spectrum too, mostly a non-stereotypical representation.
This feels like a broad generalization. While some autistic people may lean toward bottom-up thinking, it's not universal, and plenty of neurotypicals excel at it too. The analogy with blind people and hearing doesn't really work either, since autistic engineers aren’t compensating for anything in the same way. Processing styles are much more complex than neurotype labels.
FWIW I am on the spectrum and am working on precision psychiatry with autistic individuals for my graduate thesis. I don't buy a lot of the stereotypes often peddled about spergy software guys. I find a lot of these people to be quite problematic as coworkers, regardless of how talented they may be.
Many neurotypicals I see don't have that as their default processing mode. They can do it, but it's not their default.
So what you get is something that you can see with blind people as well: they get better at hearing because they spend much more time with it compared to people that can see (except for musicians, etc.).
Autistic software engineers spend a lot more time with bottom up style thinking (aka being detailed).
I'm on the spectrum too, mostly a non-stereotypical representation.