[teschmitt]

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.

[WJW]

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.