I often compare software to plumbing. No one else cares how it was done.

Much of software is a trade. But above a certain level, it is engineering.

For example, in my discussions with electricians, they understand very well how to wire up a house. But they don't actually know very much about electricity. For example, they had no idea what I was talking about when I objected them running the phone lines through the same holes as the high voltage. I said that due to inductive coupling, the phone lines would acquire a 60 Hz hum. The phone lines had to be run at 90 degrees to the high voltage wires.

They had no idea what inductive coupling was, whereas that's freshman electronics material.

I wound up removing all the phone lines and rewiring them myself. No hum!

To further it, nobody cares until it breaks. Then they still don't care, they just want it fixed as quickly as possible, cost be damned once you get to that point.

Great analogy, I'm going to use this.