Ta-nehisi Coates is one of the most interesting authors at the Atlantic (he's also the first african-american editor there since Booker T Washington, if memory serves). His childhood growing up with a mishmash of his half-siblings and getting into fights contrasts so much with the standard upper-class childhood that tends to get one into long-form journalism.
Plus he's the only "mainstream" author I know of who regularly uses D&D/gaming references while making "serious" points, which is awesome. I just love this: "Inducing them, and those in between, to change class, to trade their plate for robes, to trade the broad-sword for a spell-book, is the real work."
There is no mention of programming or technology in the piece, but it struck me as relevant anyway. I'm an engineer with one foot in the software world and sometimes I have trouble shifting smoothly. And as a bonus, there is a great D&D reference (all the way at the end).