I agree with you, as opposed to the other ex-amazon comments you've had (I had someone reach out to interview me this week if that counts? ;)).
Playing devils advocate I guess it depends on what sort of software you're writing. If you're a JS dev then I can see why they might not care about pointers in C. I know for sure as a Haskell/C++ dev I run like the plague from JS errors.
However, I do think that people should have a basic understanding of the entire stack from the OS up. How can you be trusted to choose the right tools for a job if your only aware of a hammer? How can you debug an issue when you only understand how a spanner works?
I think there's a case for engineering accreditation as we become even more dependent on software which isn't a CS degree.
Playing devils advocate I guess it depends on what sort of software you're writing. If you're a JS dev then I can see why they might not care about pointers in C. I know for sure as a Haskell/C++ dev I run like the plague from JS errors.
However, I do think that people should have a basic understanding of the entire stack from the OS up. How can you be trusted to choose the right tools for a job if your only aware of a hammer? How can you debug an issue when you only understand how a spanner works?
I think there's a case for engineering accreditation as we become even more dependent on software which isn't a CS degree.