First of all I totally get why doing something productive feels good after not having been able to for a long time. But the social hierarchy of employment that is displayed here is really revolting. In a free society cooking food for people wouldn't be considered debasing and the people doing it would get just as much respect as the ones programming the computers.

I then think about how a free society would handle someone who became unable to work for a prolonged period of time due to mental illness. Under communism he probably wouldn't have had to let go of his tech job but would have been kept on by his workplace who would have made an effort to maintain the relationship and keep in touch and would have offered him a possibility to return part time and with the necessary accomodations when his health allowed it. The binary of being employed and performing at full speed or being unemployed and unable to perform anything would be gone and replaced with the "from each according to their means" principle.

Had he reached the conclusion that tech was no longer the right place for him he would have been offered relevant training to transition into another profession and the levelling of status and income between professions would mean that going from tech worker to cook wouldn't be the social and material downfall it is under capitalism.