[kctess5]

Despite those benefits you list, you still don't think that knowledge makes you a better software engineer?

I definitely think that understanding the lower levels helps me write better software, largely for the reasons you list.

[nikdaheratik]

I do think it makes you a better engineer, but I also think that the first year or two of working in a group with other developers taught me alot more about becoming a good software developer than alot of what I learned in college. You learn more about how computers work in Uni, but you learn more about how software development groups work by doing software development.