Poor kid, learning how an enterprise works the hard way. If he stays in software eng long enough he'll be back here eventually, with a little less gumption, but a little more tactics and grit to fight the battles he wants to fight.
Are we belitteling people now because they have intrinsic standards and pride in the quality of their work instead of blindly chasing whatever is best for their replaceable career in a hypercapitalistic environment?
Aside from the GP comment calling the guy "kid", it doesn't seem especially condescending to me.
I read it more like "Yeah, we've all been there. It's a sucky lesson to learn, but in the end he's likely to be wiser (albeit more jaded) to these things."
