I think that you are missing the point of this satire. The rant doesn't seem to be directed to other people as much as the younger version of the author. A lot

I think that you are missing the point of this satire. The rant doesn't seem to be directed to other people as much as the younger version of the author. A lot of young developers who are smart and well meaning have the tendency to behave in a way equivalent to following the three rules... Their environment gives them very strong incentives. After all, who doesn't want to be popular among his colleagues and appreciated by his boss? They mean no harm and they may genuinely care about their project, but they end being destructive. I am not saying I am smart (I am rather young and well meaning, and I am a developer though) and I recognized in some of the described behaviors myself from a couple of years ago. And, well, it was indeed bitter. I have worked on a couple of projects, with great people, and NOW I know better than to rush to refactor the hell of some piece of code that works just because doesn't quite live to my high esthetic standards or stylistic preferences. However, I didn't see the light immediately. If I had had a chance to read that article, say, 3 years ago, I would probably have been less of a PITA for my colleagues and the world would have been a better place. Better introspection usually leads to more effective behavior (at least unless you are a genuine jerk, but then your refactoring frenzy is the least of two serious problems your colleagues have). I hope to meet a lot of smart, young developers in the coming years, and I am pretty sure that at least some of them will be right in the "it isn't beautiful, let's refactor, RIGHT NOW!!!" phase. I will be able to send them a link to that blog post, and that is really awesome.