I think you're right, but there would still be some hope in the "Don't call yourself a programmer"[1] avenue.
If he can sell himself not as a programmer, but as someone who does X with programming as a tool that they're going to use to do that, preferably where X is something that he has some expertise in from earlier in his career, he might be able to get people to look at him as an expert X instead of a novice programmer.
If he can sell himself not as a programmer, but as someone who does X with programming as a tool that they're going to use to do that, preferably where X is something that he has some expertise in from earlier in his career, he might be able to get people to look at him as an expert X instead of a novice programmer.
[1] https://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pr...