...which seems to be completely ignored in the world of tech careers, where "adopting to change", "constant re-learning" and "pursuit of the next big thing" seem to be the norm.
I'm being overly dramatic here, of course, but what described in an article is a very good advice for junior programmers. Don't abandon your accumulated experience in a pursuit of the newest and shiniest -- today's hottest buzzword can absolutely stop being relevant tomorrow. Aim for "knowing where to put the chalk mark" instead (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinm...).
seems to me like the difference here is that photography (and other artistic fields) seem to be setup in a 'winner takes all' kind of way; you are the very best, or you are very little...
Programming seems to be the other way around. Unless you go into the business side of things, after your first five years, you get better at what you are doing, sure, but your pay doesn't go up a whole lot. After your first five or ten years, you are doing pretty okay.
so... I'd argue that because of this, jumping around makes a lot more sense in software than it does in areas like art where only the top X% or whatever of people employed in the field make a decent living.
In programming, there are themes that are the same, regardless of language etc, that you keep and develop even as you change the stack you are working in. That's what I tried to convey in "Programmer Knowledge" http://henrikwarne.com/2014/12/15/programmer-knowledge/
Sometimes knowledge like this is a little first-past-the-post, all-or-nothing.
Completeness of knowledge is key, especially when a chain of reasoning (debugging) is as strong as its weakest link. At these times, a false assumption based on how something works in some other language could really wrong-foot you. Being familiar with some language means it's faster to learn other languages that have similar implementations, but not assumed.
Michael Wolf comes to mind; a photographer that started down the same line of skyscraper photography but ended up with his own vision [1] through gradual innovation.
Good Software Takes Ten Years[1], too. You can't just crank out a world-changing startup in a weekend. You have to stay on the route for O(1 decade) to see if it turned out good.
They were hitting the same idea from different angles. Ira Glass was focusing on developing skill while the Helsinki Bus station focuses on originality. But, it all comes to honing your craft and finding your voice through determination/ persistence. It is good advice for any career, even (especially?) tech-related ones.
I'm being overly dramatic here, of course, but what described in an article is a very good advice for junior programmers. Don't abandon your accumulated experience in a pursuit of the newest and shiniest -- today's hottest buzzword can absolutely stop being relevant tomorrow. Aim for "knowing where to put the chalk mark" instead (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinm...).