Ain’t it the truth, but it never seems to happen. The other truth that so few seem to grasp is “requirements”. Requirements lead to specifications which lead to design. Here again it depends on which level you are working. As far as that 1980s B.S., I go back 20 years before that. When I was 18 I working with IBM 1401s and RAMAC 305s, Univac, NCR B series with CRAM in NEAT3. Way before the 360/370 appeared. Used to make extra money wiring 407, 188, and 514 panels back when people had forgotten how.
That is when you learned the basics by programming in assembler. I’ve forgotten so much that I sometimes don’t remember how much I knew. And that was just in the beginning.
Started in 6502 Assembler (mid-1980s). Took Computer Science when it was really an Applied Mathematics Degree in the mid-1980s. Bought a VIC-20 to play with in Basic Training/ AIT. Wrote and published my first published commercial game in 1984 while at my 1st Duty Station. Programmed an old Radio Shack Pocket PC to calculate firing ranges for Artillery.