[sp527]

I strongly disagree with your understanding of software engineering. In my experience, the best engineers adapt as layers of abstraction permit them to no longer be as concerned about the lower level considerations, such as the ones you noted. The engineers most useful to a business are generalists who have an enormous breadth of knowledge and can specialize at will, where and when it becomes necessary. Much of the knowledge you’ve acquired in the past, will and should atrophy as it becomes less useful. You need to stop having a fixed impression of what a software engineer is and realize that the definition is constantly evolving.