The same way that you don't have to know how to field-strip a firearm in order to have insight into the 2nd Amendment, the same way you don't have to be a concert level musician to be a musicologist, is the same principle that qualifies a journalist to write a piece covering an area in which he or she has little or no expertise.

Many, if not most people understand that.

Back on topic, my sister was a coder for HP back in the mid-60s, when they were barely out of the garage.  She moved up though the ranks and took one of the early buyouts, maybe the first, after 31 years of service.

Not a big far of Carly Fiorina, she.