This is an underappreciated bit of insight and perspective, and I thank you for sharing it.

Thoughts that really stood out for congruence with my own experience:

> Most people with the knack for programming and thinking in systems know they have that knack

> Hiring is optimizing for exact matches and experience, and that's the opposite of how this skill set actually functions.

> I've found these skills are best developed by being placed in a room where you know very little about what's going on and forcing you to develop heuristics and approaches over time for getting that context.

> We're far more likely to work somewhere, get enough domain knowledge, and then bounce to start our own thing