In the end, its the hardware that counts. As in, the real physical hardware. A number like "how many active installations of hardware X", which represents act

In the end, its the hardware that counts. As in, the real physical hardware. A number like "how many active installations of hardware X", which represents actual real-life users in realtime, is a very important thing for an application developer to keep track of .. if you've got one machine that is serving 10,000 people over lunch-time, something, then you better know how that machine is working. If the lawn-humping teenage generation of programmers aren't being taught one thing, its that hardware in use is all that matters. Count that as your primary professional consideration, and things go very well from there, usually. If students were coming away from US Computer education establishments with very strong hardware capabilities and focuses, rather than 'doctrine and taxonomy' as a focus, there would be a positive change in the industry. Many 'old school' programmers got that way because they had to build their own hardware; if you are a Java coder, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't also know how to wire up a chip. Its totally arbitrary.