Writing vs software eng. What is important?

If you say - i m a professional writer, and you never written any books BUT YOU VE READ 10K books in your life - and you are very proud of this list and show it to people.

What does it say about you ? People will know you are not a writer at all!

Writer's success is his books.

Same with developer! Learning is must for developer, but you get paid not for Knowledge, but for PROJECTS, RESULTS, APPS, business!