[latexr]

I share your skepticism. Seems to me the engineer is falling prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect[1]. Rather than knowing enough to be able to puzzle together all the pieces they don’t know, I’d wager they don’t know enough to be able to discern what they won’t be able to figure out.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

[naasking]

We studied a lot of detailed semiconductor physics in my engineering degree. Certainly loads of details were left out, but knowing something is possible and roughly along which lines it could be achieved is a huge hurdle in the innovation process.