Also I notice that coders from wealthy backgrounds focus on high level languages, abstractions, etc. I don't see a lot of people digging down to the fundamental technical implementation, and actually tend to look down on such inclinations as over optimization.

On the other hand, a poor person probably has access to a very limited range of technology, so ends up learning the technology inside and out. Maybe they also don't even have regular electricity or internet, so has to learn technology using pencil, paper and by thinking about it. Much more likely to give a deep understanding of the subject matter.