I could pick some random piece of intrinsic tech you know nothing to devalue you quite easily. I work with TCP at a protocol level every. single. day. and I do

I could pick some random piece of intrinsic tech you know nothing to devalue you quite easily. I work with TCP at a protocol level every. single. day. and I don't doubt that a decent mid-level SWE could pick it up in a less than a week, and be making clever modifications in less than a month. Standards aren't hard. Code isn't hard. Willingness to ask questions is hard. Knowing when you need to stop and think is hard. Dealing with people, in a way that respects their perspective and experience, is hard, and is the primary talent of any engineer, software or otherwise.