These guys are full of shit. Tech isn't cool. People pretend that tech is cool because they want money. That's all there is to it. People who understand this aren't going to let on that they understand it, and people who don't understand it are going to get taken advantage of unless they're useful to people who are in charge.
“Tech”, as in social media company, isn’t cool. It’s mostly CRUD at scale, and the core product is a social ill.
Fighter jets and super cars are cool, but they aren’t considered “tech” for some reason.
The former pays way more than the latter. But yeah, it’s not “cool” or even really respected outside of software engineering circles (who know the salary range). Doctors and lawyers command more cool factor and respect, even if they’re earning less than FAANG employees.
Going to work and being a part of a large organization that works on cool products definitely “energizes” me. I have friends at work that I enjoy seeing daily. I would have a hard time keeping my job without caffeine. I could easily see all the ancillary life benefits of being caffeine addicted being the primary reason why coffee seems to be good for health in all these studies.