Has it gone up? Cheap hardware and comms, free tutorials everywhere and a thirst for more tech talent can't hurt.
If you think it was easier when you had to study at or work for a wealthy university, and also everything had to be done painstaking by punched card instead of today's instant feedback on a free, beautiful tutorial website, then I'm not sure what to tell you.
Also pretending like the barrier of entry into technology _hasn't_ gone up is ignoring the material conditions people face now.