Developers for which the above argument is clever and persuasive are essentially equating themselves as the equivalent of cab drivers. Their libraries, frameworks, and hardware are black boxes to them that they manipulate in pre-prescribed ways (and sometimes just plain cargo-culting) to achieve a desired result. When their abstractions break down, they have to call in specialists to diagnose and repair them. Of course, they get very agitated and defensive when people point this out and, very much unlike what a hacker would do, try to diminish the value of expertise and skill and call it unnecessary. And, okay, for them, it is.
Yes, a cab driver does not need to understand automotive engineering because a cab driver is, in the non-pejorative, technical sense of the word, unskilled labor. Is that really the analogy you want to make though?
ThrowawayR2|2 years ago
Yes, a cab driver does not need to understand automotive engineering because a cab driver is, in the non-pejorative, technical sense of the word, unskilled labor. Is that really the analogy you want to make though?