One of my high school friends finds my Arduino obsession ridiculous because he learned all about soldering and electronics st the high school he attended before transferring to mine. Our poor school district could barely afford welding, small gas engines, and basic Windows and Office (document/spreadsheet/presentation program basic use) classes.

Understanding how these work is one thing, and that used to be enough to be worth employing. Today, you have to have a passion for using that knowledge to solve problems.