I agree wholeheartedly. We have some QA folks at work. Our best is a former database programmer from way back in the day, and she has a REALLY good "systems w

I agree wholeheartedly. We have some QA folks at work. Our best is a former database programmer from way back in the day, and she has a REALLY good "systems way of thinking" and has a mental model of how things work and are united conceptually. This ability, her "systems way of thinking" sets her far and away above every other QA person I've ever worked with. Being able to come up with a mental model of a system and encode it, either in code or as a document or description is truly valuable in today's increasingly complex and nuanced world.