I agree with you. I feel like this article is pretty melodramatic. I've been a (professional) programmer for the better part of 10 years and I've had my share of ups and downs, but this job is definitely a very, very good one. The sheer amount of freedom we get from a) the good pay and b) the fact that programmers are so in-demand right now that companies bend over backward for us really can't be matched in many other jobs.
The lamenting in this article is from somebody with very little perspective on what most people have to do just to survive.
I think these are two different things. It can still be a nice job to have, even if the process is broken. Writing reliable code is hard, probably harder than it should be. Just look at the amount of software with security holes[0] and/or performance issues.
The lamenting in this article is from somebody with very little perspective on what most people have to do just to survive.