It helps to know a thing or two, about a wide range of topics, for this reason.

Take for instance someone telling you about their career. "I'm a software developer".

You can express interest with a response like "Oh, thats cool, what made you go into that line of work?" but thats a very generic, shallow response.

If you know a thing or two about software, for example, you can ask more interesting questions that show your interest in them, and your knowledge of the space. "Woh cool, how is AI coding impacting your life?"

Suddenly, it seems like you're much more interesting yourself, AND you're interested in them.

The tricky part nowadays is everyone has very niche interests. It's harder than ever to really have a breadth of knowledge that is broadly applicable. This was easier before the internet, before travel, before telecommunication. When your community was your community and news traveled slowly, it was a lot easier to learn about what impacted others.

I love being asked "what made you go into that line of work?" because I can answer with "mostly the money" (which is a very honest answer yet socially somewhat inappropriate), and their reaction to my answer immediately gives me a signal into whether we're going to be close or not.

Some people act so shocked when you tell them you did something because it would make you richer and not because an angel came to you in a dream and whispered in your ear to save the disenfranchised underclass (and all the cats) by writing code, or whatever's the current faux na pas reason to pursue a vocation these days.

I agree with your point, but as a software developer I’d much prefer the generic response in your example.