> Maybe JavaScript is actually what saved your PHD, although cookie clicker was what pointed you in that direction.

Yes the article strongly implies this with some added nuance:

> 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.