I'm focusing on the following premise;

> if you require money to do something, you usually have no chance of being as good as the folks that do it for the pleasure

Not only do I think professional have a chance to be as good as amateurs, but the elite professionals are on average better than the elite amateurs.

I do think that we would be better off if more elite amateurs became elite professionals.

Modern software infrastructure also relies on a lot of professionals.