Yes, it is. You're not supposed to understand the internals of everything. But of the things underlying your field of work/study? You should. We shouldn't thi

Yes, it is. You're not supposed to understand the internals of everything. But of the things underlying your field of work/study? You should. We shouldn't think about the fundamentals the whole time. The cognitive load would be unbearable. But we should be aware of them and be able to think about them more deeply if/when needed. And like I said, this phenomenon is not restricted to software development. An example that comes to mind now: in the crash of Air France Flight 447, the lack of skills on fundamentals of flight of the pilot flying -- young and used to the Airbuses' extremely high level of automation -- has been pointed out as a contributing factor.