Yes. And you would be in /home/ubuntu/steem
... so ./programs/steemd
definitely exists from that location. /programs/steemd
would imply (root_dir)/programs/steemd
Therefor, yes, you meant ./programs/steemd
or cd programs
then cd steemd
or cd /home/ubuntu/steem/programs/steemd
(not ideal for your snippet however since people are likely installing from a more secure user directory, but that's a moot point)
But he was not starting instance to be ./something, he was entering directory with cd /programs so he did nothing wrong :)