[PaulDavisThe1st]

I've been programming for closing in on 40 years. I got lucky when I was 32 with a position that let me get out of the industry, stay home and raise my daughter while slowly building a libre software project that has been ongoing for almost 24 years, and making a living from that for the last 14 years.

An important reason things have worked out as they have is because I continue to enjoy coding and I don't allow what I work on to be controlled by "business goals".

While your somewhat cynical take may reflect the experience of an overwhelming majority of the people who write software today, it isn't a description of the only pathway along a life as a programmer.