Posted on Oct 21 Photo by Sebastian Bill on UnsplashLet's talk about abstractions. Today, I was browsing twitter while I found this amazing article, it talks about how too many layers of abstractions have caused developers to only think in terms of tools instead of Understanding the underlying systems of a tech.This article also advices people to, And I quote: The 2nd and the 4th point is what I want to highlight because previously I've attempted to write my thoughts on this topic but it was a terrible attempt, I wasn't able to convey my thoughts clearly on that article and ended up comparing react vs vue. So after almost 3 years I want to take a second jab at this, where I want to write about the importance of "using a tool vs understanding a tool". Let's talk about design, I'm not a very good designer but like designing in my free time. I also love to create abstract 3D designs in blender. But the thing is, sure I do "designing" but do I actually "understand" designing? Absolutely not. Designing is not just about using a tool like figma, blender or photoshop and pressing few combinations of buttons until you get something which "looks" good. It's a process. A good designer can design regardless of the tool that you give them, be it a figma board, photoshop canvas or a piece of paper. A good designer embraces and understands the fundamental principles of design and applies them whenever they see fit. Now coming back to tech, A good engineer is not someone who knows X framework nor it is someone who knows Y language. A good engineer is someone who has a certain level of understanding of the underlying systems. For example, If you are an UI Engineer, The point is, it's fine if you are starting with a higher level of abstraction and getting things done or shipping things to production, But at some point slow down, hit the brake paddle and try to get a deeper understanding of the tools that you are using.A good photographer is not someone who can just operate a camera (the tool), A good photographer is someone who can operate a camera AND understands/applies the fundamental principles of photography.Be curious. They say curiosity killed the cat, but if you are reading this you are probably not a cat. if you are a curious engineer that means you ask questions, explore new ideas, solve complex problems with simple solutions, and always find ways to get a deeper understanding of things. A curious engineer is a furious engineer.If you are a curious engineer: In the long run the more curious you are the deeper your overall understanding of tech gets. In conclusion, it's okay to use a higher level of abstraction but dive deeper into the tech and try to understand the fundamentals. Aim to become a "T" shaped engineer, have the breadth but also have the depth. In the long run it will be extremely beneficial to you, From being able to easily debug React code because you know how React works under the hood to writing efficient Regexes because you know ins and out of how regex engines work or even preventing your entire company to go down because of an evil regex.Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well Confirm For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse Ilir Beqiri - Oct 20 Victor Onyeke - Oct 19 joachim kliemann - Oct 15 Mohamed El Amine Yamani - Oct 20 Once suspended, anuraghazra will not be able to comment or publish posts until their suspension is removed. Once unsuspended, anuraghazra will be able to comment and publish posts again. Once unpublished, all posts by anuraghazra will become hidden and only accessible to themselves. If anuraghazra is not suspended, they can still re-publish their posts from their dashboard. Note: Once unpublished, this post will become invisible to the public and only accessible to Anurag Hazra. They can still re-publish the post if they are not suspended. Thanks for keeping DEV Community safe. Here is what you can do to flag anuraghazra: anuraghazra consistently posts content that violates DEV Community's code of conduct because it is harassing, offensive or spammy. Unflagging anuraghazra will restore default visibility to their posts. DEV Community — A constructive and inclusive social network for software developers. With you every step of your journey. Built on Forem — the open source software that powers DEV and other inclusive communities.Made with love and Ruby on Rails. DEV Community © 2016 - 2023. We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.