Although you are absolutely right, I think the point the author is trying to make is more melancholic. He's grieving about a loss of significance of the craft he has devoted so much of his life to. He's imagining software engineers becoming nothing more than a relic, like elevator operators or blacksmiths.
One of those is not like the others. Elevator operators disappeared entirely while the blacksmith profession morphed into the various type of metalworker that we still have today.
