> Honestly I think I'm going to like it more. I got into programming because I liked building things, not because I wanted to type boilerplate for the rest of my life.

Sounds to me like OP wanted to be the executive ordering his engineer team to build something rather than him being the engineer that actually builds it.

Also, "But clay didn't go away. Ceramics studios are everywhere now. People pay good money to throw pots on weekends.". What misguided statement. The population of full-time pottery workers didn't all open studios (likely a tiny percentage but it is more likely that the pottery studio people do not come from a pottery factory background) and those who opened them are likely not able to obtain a full-time equivalent level of income by catering to people like OP.

The article reads like a privileged person who lacks the ability to empathize with the disenfranchised.