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Mastering a technology and using it efficiently is one side of the coin. But to understand this technology at least in its basic principles is quite another. The enormous complexity of modern software is a good example. Working with it, and getting results at the top level, is great. Understanding the details underneath, knowing how code of a high-level language is converted to machine language, what paradigms prevail at the assembly level, and how individual machine instructions are then actually executed at the hardware level, creates a deep form of satisfaction.

And knowledge of assembly and programming has equally enormous potential to produce better code in high-level languages, because you better understand the fundamentals of the machine as well as its limitations.

Clive Maxfield has written a wonderful essay on this topic. Un-opinionated as far as that’s possible, and a nice read for a few quiet minutes.