This would be dead-on except for he misses a key point: programming is not about programming anymore. "Programming" in the sense he uses it is a corporate cog

This would be dead-on except for he misses a key point: programming is not about programming anymore. "Programming" in the sense he uses it is a corporate cog working in some huge technology-producing machine. That job? Sure. It leans heavily towards younger workers. Why not? Have you seen the way they treat programmers? But the general skill of programming is not practiced in that environment much anymore. Today programming is everywhere. It's more like the way cursive writing used to be -- you won't get far without knowing it. Programming is that skill you mix into some other skill to make the whole thing better. Programming is quickly becoming more of a necessary add-on than an end-point in itself.