[otoburb]

I think you hit the nail on the head already with the first part of this paragraph:

>>While it's true that some of us are more likely to work for ourselves, or tend to be risk-averse, or desire long-term relationships with a company [...]

Basically, developers with more of a mercenary mindset are more willing to work for themselves, while developers with a more guild-like disposition tend to be more risk-averse and/or desire long(er) term relationships with a company.

Both groups definitely overlap in terms of their achievements and community involvement. But how they see themselves in the market, and more importantly how they react to changing conditions, seems to be the primary distinction between the two.

Being a Forbes article and the general audience that the author seems to be writing for, I doubt that much of this is anything new for a HN audience. However, it's probably a good radar ping/wake-up call for the more general audience.

tl;dr Polarizing divisions make it easier for people to retain information.