Yes, he confirms further down in the comments that this is a fictional story.
I wish he had made this more clear in the actual original post. Unless I'm missing something, there was no indication of this being a parable.
As it stands, I had already scanned his resume to mentally blacklist his most recent employer.
The massive google flamewar that occupies the top 1/3rd of this page notwithstanding, burying the true nature the article deep in the HN comments isn't really the best practice.
I had figured out about half way through that the story was fictional. It wasn't explicit, but it was subtle. Who's going to write a resignation letter like that? No one.
Either way, interesting read and gave me some stuff to think about, as usual. Thanks.