This is a fair counterpoint, but if your lack of fundamentals caused you to write an O(n^k); k>1 algorithm, you're not going to be able to pay your way to the s

This is a fair counterpoint, but if your lack of fundamentals caused you to write an O(n^k); k>1 algorithm, you're not going to be able to pay your way to the solution with more cores if you truly have "big data". Even constant multipliers of a poor O(n) algorithm will cost you serious bucks if your default optimization strategy is "buy more computers" rather than a few afternoons of quiet thought.