"Don't just learn tools, try to understand how the underlying technology works." Sound advice imho: "If you understand the nature of the beast, you know what

"Don't just learn tools, try to understand how the underlying technology works." Sound advice imho: "If you understand the nature of the beast, you know what it's capable of." Rarely -if ever- necessary to know all the gritty details. But it sure helps to understand the structure of what's underneath, or how it uses whatever is underneath that. For example: I'm no mechanic who knows the outboard ICE on my boat like the inside of his pockets. But I do know it's a 2-cylinder, 4 stroke engine, how those cylinders sit in the engine block, how to unscrew the sparkplugs & check those, what the various other parts & hoses are for, and (roughly) how much fuel it should consume for trip x, y or z. Imho that's about the level of understanding programmers should have about the tools of their trade.