This reminds me of the lessons of my computer teacher years ago.  He
would
drill it into our heads in the first week that programming within itself
is absolutely
worthless.  One of the examples he used was to ask us, "If you knew how
to
program, could you write a chess program if you don't even know how to
play
chess?" (he gave other examples).

I personally haven't done programming of any sort in years.  I instead
went back
to school, got my 2 year electronics degree, got some experience, and am
now
getting back into programming.  My specialty is programming MCU's to
replace
preexisting circuits into a much smaller and cheaper package.  But I
have to
understand the electronics that I'm replacing.

Lawrence Lile wrote:

> Kieth wrote:
>
> > Skills cross-pollinate and blossom in novel ways.
> > Appreciating both hardware and software allows you
> > to design each with the other in mind.
> > My technical authoring skills allow me to prepare
> > project proposals and technical reports well.
> > A hobby interest in astronomy and satellites got me a job
> > offer with a company writing satellite mission control
> > software.
>
> Like kieth, I program PICs day in and day out, but I could not do my
> job without other skills:
>
> Mountain climbing skills got me a job fixing alarm systems on top of
> tall, tall storage tanks.  With a few ropes and a voltmeter I could
> climb much more safely and efficiently than the other techs.
>
> Experience in HVAC controls got me a lot of knowledge in heat
> transfer and eventually led  to a job with an appliance company
> making things that heat food.
>
> Playing around with PICS making LED blinkies and other simple
> circuits led to job programming them.  "CAN YOU PROGRAM
> MICROPORCESSORS?" they asked.  "YUP!" I said, gulping.  "THEN HERE"S
> YOUR BENCH!" they said.  "Oh SH___" I thought, expletive deleted,
> "Now I'll have to do this for real!"
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Lawrence Lile