Just as you can run any program on any machine given enough time and resources (memory), anyone not lacking intellectual ability can learn anything - some quicker, some slower.
While I agree that everyone CAN learn anything, it doesn't mean they want to. Motivation is a big factor.
And when it comes to software development, the actual writing code part of it, I'm confident you need to have a knack for it.
Mind you, there's plenty of jobs in software engineering that don't involve writing code. We're desperately looking for a manager for example, because our current "self-managing" team is far from effective.
The intellectual part maybe but not the praxis. Some confidence, some unwillingness to stop searching for causes, some taste foe elegance, some ability to simulate things in the abstract space of solutions. The combination is as elusive to some as perceiving the mood of a room is to others.
Yes my understanding is that different people's brains can be wired very differently. Roughly speaking, many areas of the brain require specific stimulus during puberty in order to develop a particular way.
