Yes, but consider the problem domain to which he applies (and wastes, in my honest opinion) his skills. Web layout. CSS. Surely one of the most pointlessly vile

Yes, but consider the problem domain to which he applies (and wastes, in my honest opinion) his skills. Web layout. CSS. Surely one of the most pointlessly vile and broken (as in the implementations are broken) sub-domains of programming. And in this regard, that he is wasting time, he is right. A good "web coder" knows the intricacies of a dozen versions of render engines, but standardisation could, and obviously should, make his knowledge obsolete, as it is only busywork. The wider point is that programming is still full of such busywork.