The author is right that increasing the time value of one's work is an uphill battle. I entered the workforce right at the beginning of the 2008 recession. It took me 6 years of bouncing from job to job, working late nights at times, talking to armies of recruiters, negotiating small raises at each job, to finally earn a salary that would be considered average in our industry.

I am very, very careful now to guard my rate as a software developer. As crazy as it sounds, I would rather work for free than work for a low rate.