There are some other advantages of having someone who knows assembly and the likes as well. First, lets face it, if they can program well in that language they

There are some other advantages of having someone who knows assembly and the likes as well. First, lets face it, if they can program well in that language they can probably program well in any other higher level languages. Second, not very many people at all even know what a CPU's register is, or what the difference between big endian and little endian is, or why we should be really really happy that we were brought Protected Mode Flat Model. Meaning that if your one of those people that do bother to learn it then you'll have a much higher "edge" factor for any company willing to admit they need those skills around still. And finally, to see how bits turn to hexadecimal. How hexadecimal matches with CPU's registers and all you really do is move or push data from one piece of memory to another. It all gives you a perspective on how programs work underneath it all, how the operating system works, and lets you see things like the code beneath something in front of you. You get a good foundation of a core technology which may one day be needed again very badly. (Hasn't anyone figured out that quantum computers will need someone to create a new assembly language/architecture for that matter?)