"you aren't the first person i've seen expressing the transparently nonsensical sentiment that 'people problems are much harder than technical problems'."

No, it's not "transparently nonsensical" -- it expresses a common human experience that techies who are at least somewhat self-aware (obviously that excludes you) have had at work. Their education gave them a toolbox for approaching technical problems, but no training in the people problems.

It's not remotely saying that all technical problems are easy.