[graemep]

I am not convinced. A lot of these things were specialised before these companies took off - with different people doing sysadmin, managing networks, DB admin, programming etc. There was always need for some generalists.

It is also useful to have a deeper understanding of underlying and related systems to you own - it makes it easier to understand problems, to communicate with specialists, etc.

You mentioned you are an economist. Do you think it would be a good idea for someone interested in macroeconomics to decide never to learn any microeconomics at all? Specialisation should be additional knowledge built on a broader base.

> You claim that linux, disk backup and routing tables will never be obsolete. Really?

I would interpret never is "not in your working life" which is a reasonable claim.

Also, underlying skills. We will always need OSes (even if Linux because obsolete), we will always need to backup data, and we will always need to route information. If you have learned one OS, or have experience of backups, or setting up networks it will be much easier to update to the new version.