The nuance of calling people names is lost on the author. Bad code can be written by great coders. It happens to the best of us. No need to insult people to improve code.
> More generally, though, it shows why there's a difference between 1x and 10x programmers.
While I agree that some of the examples are impropriate, I think OP has generalized the issue too far. I don't believe knowing how to use assert properly has much contribution to productivity in programming.
It's a symptom of the problem, not the cause.
It demonstrates that they don't really understand the code they are writing, and it's that attitude and approach to programming that has a contribution to productivity.
That doesn't make him a good programmer. In fact it's entirely possible to be a brilliant cryptographer but only an average programmer.
Knowing where you are will help you progress. Believing that you are good while being bad has the only effect that you will not do anything to improve so you will stay bad. Is that what you want?
I agree that self-evaluation and recognition of inferior practices will help one progress, but the article would be more effective if the author was less condemning.