[Retric]

Many things are simply complex and there is no way to 'dumb it down'. QM is probably the best example where the 'every man' description has almost nothing to do with the underlying theory.

In the CS encryption is probably the best example of this where the basic algorithm can be identical between a system protected from the NSA and something trivial to break for the average researcher.

[exelius]

Yeah, but your code is ultimately achieving some business requirement or it wouldn't be there. Being able to articulate that is an invaluable skill. Requirements are generally poorly written, so if something needs to be done a certain way (e.g. so the numbers in the reports across multiple products are consistent) then the business sometimes needs to know the algorithm.