This is a subtle and sublime point - it may not just be a function of age, maybe somewhat about having a wider interest in computers and tech.
10-20 years ago, it was a requirement to learn the layers support your own hardware, network, security, hosting.... all for the opportunity to try to build a piece of software. You could spend a few years improving at each and it was perfectly normal. Now there seems to be a rush to get through it all to become awesome by skimming the surface.
As a result of learning multiple layers (because there was little other choice), one picked up a lot of transferable skills. You can sometimes literally traverse debugging an issue between all of these layers.
In school computers were taught, first from how a computer physically worked, booted up, etc.
Then, you learned some basic operating system, applications, and how they interacted with the computer.
Once that was completed, you started some amount of creation, whether it was visual design, games, programming, etc. Not to create a programmer, but as a form of creation with the computer.
10-20 years ago, it was a requirement to learn the layers support your own hardware, network, security, hosting.... all for the opportunity to try to build a piece of software. You could spend a few years improving at each and it was perfectly normal. Now there seems to be a rush to get through it all to become awesome by skimming the surface.
As a result of learning multiple layers (because there was little other choice), one picked up a lot of transferable skills. You can sometimes literally traverse debugging an issue between all of these layers.
In school computers were taught, first from how a computer physically worked, booted up, etc.
Then, you learned some basic operating system, applications, and how they interacted with the computer.
Once that was completed, you started some amount of creation, whether it was visual design, games, programming, etc. Not to create a programmer, but as a form of creation with the computer.