I think you're basically saying the same thing as the article, except their emphasis is on that they learned the skill they ended up needing while doing silly things for fun rather than trying to be productive:
> But perhaps the simplest way to view this episode was as a playful, recreational activity which through sheer dumb luck gave me the skills needed to solve an important problem in my work life. My colleague Titus Barik analysed how programmers talk about programming as play, involving ‘spontaneous and creative expression’, ‘experimentation’, and ‘purposeless, ludic activity’. He found that many programmers reflect on episodes of playful programming as joyful experiences that catalysed learning.
> I’m extremely grateful to Cookie Clicker for the journey it put me on, but even if I hadn’t ended up learning JavaScript because of it, I still wouldn’t regret, and would cherish, the many many hours I spent tinkering and clicking away in my college dorm bedroom.
I read the article as less about touting the benefit of some specific technical tool but more about the value of time spent purposely _not_ being productive. It's a counterpoint to the "cult of productivity" that espouses the important of maximizing efficiency and "hustling".