When we learn about cars, we need folks who can build an engine from scrap metal, folks who can swap out an engine in a shop, and folks who can push the pedals on the road. There is definitely a lot you can do by focusing on being an API consumer! I still get the impression that fine-tuning is an important skill, but it's still very unclear to me if that's a small subset of engineers, or maybe an area good for data analysts. Maybe it's better for a new person to spent time purely as an API consumer and work down from there? What is the next step after that?

Jonathan Barnett As a design pattern, I know we see it a lot, but I don't know if it has a name!

Thanks! I still avoid the term OOP though Exactly! This may sounds controversial, but I don't think FP is incompatible with Classes. The traditional thought is that a Class is a blueprint for building a Thing. But today, we want to think less about Things and more about BehaviorDoers. Less Car and more CarPainter . That's the runway to avoid the pitfalls of traditional OOP.