Getting paid is only a form of acknowledgment that you worked, but it in no way denotes respect.

It simply says " to the best of our knowledge s/he did <insert type of job here/> work for the duration of this pay period.

I agree that some people do get respect in this industry, but too many of us are simply cogs in a wheel.

What's so bad about being a cog in a wheel, if you're enjoying your life?

I think that's precisely one of the the points Zed is making. That is, that coding is a cool, rewarding pursuit. But that you shouldn't expect a coding profession to necessarily be the either cool or rewarding.

If you're happy in that profession, great. I don't think the chapter in this book says you shouldn't be, in fact I think it would suggest that you have the right disposition for such a profession and are therefore fortunate.

I think it really depends. I have seen a lot of teams / managers would prefer a so call team player to sit there and write 500 lines of bad code, and ditch a good coder who don't go to all the bullshit meeting for write 500 lines of good code. And the glory go to the 500 lines of bad code, for showing up in meetings and talk about shits. That's respect.

I doubt you get paid comparable to your contributions to the bottom line. Or, maybe you do. :-)