Fighting is competitive and single-minded in a way that programming very much is not. The purpose of fighting is to defeat, often kill, an enemy who wants to do the same thing to you. In that world, there’s no room for anything but the most advanced techniques and technology.

Most jobs, programming included, aren’t like that at all. There’s an element of competition, but you don’t get killed by somebody who does it better. Maybe they get paid more, but you can still have a job too.

I read this advice like: in a world of backhoes, don’t be a guy with a shovel. Except a guy with a shovel is still very useful in the modern world. Backhoes are great but can’t do everything. And even for jobs they can, the shovel might be good enough.