It seems to me that the field is getting extremely competitive. Is it still worth it? Not for the sake of getting a job, but for the sake of eventually ending up at a cool startup, or either founding one, or working on some super cool tech
This question seems to be entirely based on a false premise. If you want to be good at something, whatever field you choose, it's going to be competitive. Being good at coding in particular is in no way a prerequisite for participating in the startup scene.