Successful "techies" never work at companies they don't believe in.
It's quite telling that the author includes this "only if" clause.
This is an odd application of No True Scotsman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
There are many nonobvious reasons for choosing to work at a certain company, even if you don't believe in the company (e.g. salary to support a family as the highest priority)
1) This is from 2011, it was slightly less of a seller's market for engineers back then. It was still a seller's market, but not as crazy as it is now.
2) The author is one of the top 10 all time contributors to HN. #3 in fact. And I don't think he deserves the snark from the last line of your comment. He's done some pretty cool things and I'd definitely count him as a successful techie.
That said your lackadaisical use of infinity is worrying. You shouldn't just throw it around like that. Most things have nuances. Life in particular.
Despite what TechCrunch and the VC industry would have us believe, it's nowhere near as clear cut as you make out.