Not really. Systems thinking is broader in scope and responsibility. You're going to have to cross the rubicon eventually (unless all the software projects tha

Not really. Systems thinking is broader in scope and responsibility. You're going to have to cross the rubicon eventually (unless all the software projects that hire you fail gloriously before they achieve any significant scale, I guess). Code quality, best practices, etc. involve the same values and priorities as systems thinking, but is scaled down to a bus factor of 1. (i.e. the code you, personally, write or review). Going beyond n=1 requires building mechanisms and guard-rails to prevent a failure of the individual level from affecting the larger system in a bad way. Thinking about it early won't significantly kneecap you from writing good code. If it interests you, go for it. The only reason you might not want to do so is if it doesn't interest you right now. You'll likely get there one day, once a project you care about scales up enough.