Hm. I disagree, having gone through that same set of doubts just recently. Notice, the man is talking about leaving the industry, not leaving programming behind.
Here’s my observation:
I’ve spent 10 years working on core areas with a direct correlation to revenue that brought in billions of dollars. Yes, that big. It’s been a constant battle with managers and morons, which I passed through because I loved my job and did focus on the problems and making the software the best possible under the circumstances. In the end, what got me was that the folks who constantly (not making this up) forced decisions that I argued against upfront and that proved incorrect later in the cycle were the profiteers. Meanwhile, 10 years later, I have a personal wealth of 300k, no house, no family and shoddy health.
I am aware that there’s people much worse off - but in a similar age and qualification bracket, I can’t help but notice that people who went into careers other than software development (management, marketing, law, medical, journalism, administration … ) end up progressing much quicker and have more time for their private lives.
The problem with working in a field you love is that it opens you up to being exploited - you’ll work the extra hours at night and on weekends because you refuse to ship low quality, you make up with your time for your managements mistakes and you’ll do it at low pay and you’ll be reluctant to walk away and switch, all because you love what you do.
So, yes, I’d like to switch industries, too. I’ll never stop programming, but I am sick and tired of doing the lions share of the work and seeing others reap the rewards. My considered advice to graduates is to find a field where they are not at the end of the production chain (it’s easy to produce high level design documents in word and you won’t get held to deadlines that you miss early in a project lifecycle) and/or a job where the net value is in controlling a resource someone else needs (doctors, lawyers, adminstration).
Focus on your family and programming in your own copious free time.